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MAGNETISM, • 

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EQUILIBRIUM 



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BEING AN ATTEMPT TO PROVE THAT NOT ONLY THE IIEALTn OF VEGETABLES AND ANI- 
MALS, BUT ALL SYSTEMS AND PRINCIPLES IN NATURE, DEPEND UPON AN EQUI- 
LIBRIUM OF ACTION BETWEEN TWO EXTREMES, AND THAT THE IMPULSE OR 
FORCE BY WHICH THEY ARE PRODUCED, AS WELL AS DESTROYED, 
IS OWING TO THE MAGNETIC FLUIDS WHICH OPERATE BOTH 
AT THE SAME TIME, ON THE SAME OBJECT OR 
PRINCIPLE. 



THE PROPER STUDY OF MANKIND IS MAN." 



IN TWO PARTS. 



DETROIT: 

BAUG AND HARMON, PRINTERS 




1845. 



sV 



'V 




$m 



District Gourtof the United States ? 
* eor thej>istrict of michigan. > 

'•. #% %0|s\rict. ov Michigan, ss.— Be it remembered that on this twelfth day of Decem- 
ber, A. D;»one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, Joseph H. Bagg, of the said 
\ District, hdfy depostied in the office of the Clerk of said Court, a hook the titie of 
which is in the words following, to wit-, "Bagg on Magnetism, or the doctrine 
of Equilibrium," being designed to prove that not only the health of vegetables 
and animals, but all systems and principles in nature depend upon an equilibrium 
of action between two extremes, and that} the $ impulse or force by which they 
are produced, as well as destroyed, is owing to the magnetic fluids which operate 
both at the same time on the same object or principle. The proper study of man- 
kind is man." In two parts, the right whereof he claims as author and proprietor, 
in conformity with an act of Congress, entitled "An act to amend the several acts 
respecting copy rights*" 

In testimony whereof I have hereto subscribed my name and affixed the 
— a seal of the said court, this twelfth day of December, A. D. eighteen hun- 
**■ B ' dred and forty four. JNO. WINDER, Clerk. 



By GEO. G. Bl XL, Deputy. 



•fi 






DEDICATION. 



To those who are not blinded by prejudice; have the 
desire to attempt, patience to continue, and' wish to in-* 
vestigate the laws of nature, and dare view her as she 
really is, without reference to beaten tracks or the com- 
mon highway of the schools, and have the firmness to 
sustain the result of their convictions, whether practicing 
the healing art, or are engaged in any operations of 
mind with matter, the subsequent pages are with respect 
inscribed by the Author. 

J. H. BAGG. 



PREFACE, 



The origin of the following pages may be attributed 
to an universally confessed and acknowledged want of 
general principles to guide us in the practice of the heal- 
ing art. From witnessing, in a more or less extensive 
practice, for tne last twenty-five years, all kinds of dis- 
eases attempted to be cured by one kind of medicines, 
and one kind of disease cured by all kinds of medicines, 
the diseases, being as different from each other as the 
poles, and the remedies, many of them, apparently also 
opposite in effect, with as numerous a corresponding va- 
riety of advocates for each, we were led to believe, that, 
all, operated in one uniform manner, agreeable to some 
general law hitherto not understood, and the result of 
our investigations has justified our most sanguine anti- 
cipations. The cause of animal life and the law by 
which it is governed, has never as yet, been satisfacto- 
rily ascertained, much less demonstrated. While one 
class of phylosophers have accounted for it on mechan- 
ical an other has on chemical principles; a third has 
attributed to the union of the two, while a fourth has 
denied the whole, and contend that the vital principle is 
peculiar to itself and dependent on neither. The ob- 
ject of this work is to prove that not only all absolute 
mechanical force and'chemical affinity, but all other mo- 
tions, actions, and effects in nature, in compositions and 
decompositions, as well as the vital principle of vegeta- 
bles and animals is owing to one and the same cause and 
governed by the same law — the magnetic fluids by the 
1* 



VI PREFACE. 



law of attraction and repulsion. While engaged in the 
investigation of the cause of animal life, we found mat- 
ter, although so diversified in nature by her various 
combinations, as to produce an almost endless variety, 
yet reduceable to a few elements, and all, whether found 
in the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdoms, whether 
solid, liquid or asriform, whether of mind or matter, all 
indebted to one principle and governed by one immuta- 
ble law, and only differing from each other by a differ- 
ent arrangement of their ultimate atoms or elements in 
the compound; and that man differs from the rest sim- 
ply by being the engineer of his own destiny, and there- 
fore not only stands highest in the scale of being in the 
chain of animals, but forms the connecting link between 
mortality and immortality. Like an adventurer then who 
starts only to explore an island, but discovers a whole 
continent, in our examination into the cause of animal 
life, we have not only succeeded but fortunately disco- 
vered that the cause as well as the law by which it is 
governed, is the cause and law of the whole universe. 
Instead then of being obliged to become a perpetual 
book-worm, and crawl through all the musty volumes of 
antiquity, as well as those of modern ingenuity, and 
wade through a mass of more than useless rubbish, 
spending the greatest share and best part of our time 
reflecting on the imaginations of those who never ob- 
served for themselves, or groping our way through the 
dark labyrinth of uncertainty, culling isolated facts for 
ourselves, or take them on hearsay from those who pre- 
tend to have discoved and chronicled them, and thereby 
overburdening the memory with an illimitable minutia, 
and thus like children playing "blind harry," now blun- 
dering against this object and now against that, some- 
times guessing right and sometimes wrong — we give a 
general principle, which, when understood will be found 
to be so plain and simple in its nature and so easy of ap- 
plication, but yet so general and universal, that all can 



PREFACE. VII 

readily see. understand and appreciate. If generaliza- 
tion in any science be its essence, this general principle 
will constitute the very essence of all science. It would 
indeed seem to constitute the very golden ladder itself. 
of the patriarch of old, on which to climb from nature 
up to nature's God — man situated between the extremes 
of brutes and angels. It will constitute a perpetual men- 
tal compass, to guide those who attempt to investigate 
any subject, system, or principle of nature in any science 
or art, and stands the same relation to these, in gui- 
ding the mind to truth, that the compass needle does to 
the adventurer in an immense wilderness, or the mari- 
ner in the trackless ocean to guide him to port. 

Our main purpose is to adapt the principle to the more 
perfect practice of the healing art, give a clear and ra- 
tional theory of that condition of man upon earth term- 
ed somnambulism, as well as every other stage of mag- 
netism, prove its truth, show its phenomena, mental and 
physical, prove the truth of Prenological science by the 
latter, and come to the rescue of the Homoeopathies, by 
giving in addition to their numerous collection of facts, 
a general principle, as a perpetual light to encourage 
them onward toward the perfection of the only true sys- 
tem of practice in phylosophy, and establish their two 
general principles on which their whole system is based 
— the doctrine of Similia-similibus, in the application, 
and the exaltation of the powers of some remedies, be- 
yond the fear of contradiction. As these comprehend 
the science of man, it became necessary to examine him 
in connection with the external world, or those objects 
on which he acts and is operated upon, and will form 
our only apology for generalization. It will therefore 
be found in addition to these, to be more or less benefi- 
cial to all, particularly to those engaged in the study, 
teaching or use of rhetoric and logic, as it is but nature 
developing herself in the most eloquent manner by her 
own arguments. Our self-esteem is net so prominent a* 



Vlll PREFACE. 

to induce us to believe that we can write the whole book 
of nature in a work of three hundred octavo pages, 
which would form a universal history or system of itself, 
or that we have exhausted, or scarcely commenced to 
exhaust in detail, the particular branches which is the de- 
sign of this work. What w r e have said however, we 
know to be true, and feel confident that enough has been 
said to attract a portion of the scientific to an investiga- 
tion of the subject. We anticipate then, from the sim- 
plicity of the rule, the universality of its application, the 
collection of interesting cases of cures effected by mag- 
netism direct, together with those produced by the ex- 
altation of remedies, with the most numerous and inter- 
esting collection of cases of clairvoyance ever yet giv- 
en to the public, with the proofs of the truth of Phreno- 
logy, all of which are from our own experience during 
the last three years, with the utility that must flow from 
each, aside from all other subjects and considerations, 
will claim for it a favorable reception. Animal Mag- 
netism and Phrenological science are about to revolution- 
ize the world, of mind and matter. Both are true, ba- 
sed upon phylosophy, must be believed and will prevail. 
The time is not far distant and they wohld ere this have 
been believed, applied to the cure of disease and the sup- 
pression of vice, immorality and crime, but for the erro- 
neous and unfortunate, but honest report of the illustri- 
ous Franklin at the Court of Versailles. But no matter 
how high the source, or powerful the engine by which 
truth is crushed to earth, it ultimately rises and becomes 
predominent. Will it not then commend itself to the at- 
tention of an intelligent and thinking public, or is our po- 
sition like the gentleman of Philadelphia and the Chi- 
nese farmers'? They plow their fields with a crotched 
stick. An adventurer from Philadelphia on an occasion 
observed the great loss of labor from its use upon the 
farm of his friend and on his next trip surprised him with 
the presentation of one of our best modern plows, be- 



PREFACE. IX 



lieving that thereby he would subserve the interest of 
humanity, and his friend, and further gain upon his es- 
teem and friendship. But witness his astonishment and 
chagrin, when it was absolutely and peremptorily refu- 
sed. What, said he, "looking daggers," and with eve- 
ry hair erect, do you think that I would exchange my 
plow for this? Do you think that I am wiser than my 
ancestors] My grandfather plowed with this plow. My 
father plowed with this plow, and I plow with it. Do 
you think that I am wiser than they? No barbarian, I 
will still plow with the plow of my fathers. 

To that portion of community who believe with the 
Chinese, that our first parents were all wise as well as 
all happy, and that it is not only unwise but sinful and 
useless to attempt to improve, this work is not intended. 
We leave such to the enjoyment of their quiet and neg- 
ative state of bliss without molestation. But to those 
on the contrary who believe it to be a duty to investi- 
gate the laws of nature, discover truth and strive to im- 
prove the condition of man upon earth, this volume is 
offered as a tribute to their respect and esteem and our 
mite to the general contribution. 

The coincidence of that part of this work that endea- 
vors to establish the identity of the imponderables, with 
the " New Phylosophy of Matter, 7 ' a work published 
some time last year, by Mr. Geo. Brewster, is a circum- 
stance which goes to establish its truth, as the conclu- 
sions of both were conceived of, and arrived at by dif- 
ferent motives, manners, and courses of reasoning and 
investigation. So far as we are concerned, it is well 
known to our friends that that part of the subject was 
in manuscript as early as 1839, and that in 1840 we pub- 
lished, in the recommendation and prescription of a ho- 
moeopathic pill which was circulated not only through- 
out this, but other States, the following: " This pill and 
its operation is based upon the principle, that human life 
is produced and continued by attraction and repulsion 



X PREFACE. 

from magnetism, that galvanism, electricity, magnetism 
and oxygen are identicle, that good health is the result 
of a certain or due degree of action or motion, from that 
principle, that it forms the secondary soul of the universe 
and pervades all bodies, and that the above diseases arise 
from a want of this due attraction, and repulsion, which 
operate both at the same time, in the same space, or on 
the same object." On further investigation and as we 
progressed, we were, from our convictions of its truth, 
obliged to add light, caloric and oxygen, with hydrogen 
gasses. Throughout w r e have endeavored to tax our 
own resources, and have studiously avoided the beaten 
track of others, except to occasionally exhibit them in 
contrast or confirmation. We shall give no credit whe- 
ther borrowed or purloined except to them, as not know- 
ing where w T e get our ideas. Did we attempt it we 
should perhaps be worse off in our blunders, by robbing 
Peter to pay Paul, than to stand convicted of the crime. 
Instead of stringing the beads of others, we have man- 
ufactured our own, although our bump of order in the 
arrangement may not be sufficiently developed to so 
please those of greater manifestations, as to elude criti- 
cism. We make no apology for the matter or manner as 
it is the very best production under the circumstances, 
from the novelty of the subject, want of time, occupation 
and habits, we are able to give, but such as it is, we ush- 
er it forth to the world, w 7 ell aware of the old but trite 
saying of those who seek for revenge, " that mine ene- 
my had written a book." 






PART FIRST- 



CHAPTER I. 

The knowledge of Magnetism of the ancients was so 
narrow and contracted, and their view^s so limited, that 
they defined it to be that force which in iron under cer- 
tain circumstances, when left free to move like the com- 
pass needle, turned to the poles of the earth. This was 
the result of their labors, the extent of their observa- 
tions, and definition of the principle. But from the ex- 
periments of Franklin upon the electric machine, and 
those upon the Galvanic battery and Voltaic pile, by Gal- 
vani and Valta, together with the labors of Wallaston, 
Arago, Prout, Brewster, Sir Humphrey Davy, Harvey, 
and a variety of others, both in Europe and America 
since their day, and last, not least, recently in our own 
country, the efforts and exertions of Davenport and Cook 
in their application of the principle to the propelling ma- 
chinery, and Dr. Sherwood of the city of New York to 
the cure of disease, with our own observations and re- 
flections, we have come to the deliberate conclusion that 
instead of their being in nature as taught in the schools, 
five imponderable fluids, that there are but two, the Mag- 
netic fluids, and that Galvanism, Electricity, Light, Ca- 
loric and oxygen with hydrogen gasses, are but the dif- 
ferent effects upon the corresponding five senses of the 
body, produced by one principle — the Magnetic fluids, 
and are therefore identical. That the seeming differ- 
ence between them upon the mind and upon matter is 
owing to the construction of our organs, to the different 
mechanism of the senses, and not to the principle, and 



BAGG ON 



that these different sensations, like the five different wit- 
nesses in a court ot justice, all tending to one point to 
give correct testimony, to establish truth, are but the 
different modifications of the Magnetic fluids themselves, 
one and the same, one in principle, action and effect. 

That God, although thus manifold in his varieties is 
yet simple in his primary principles, and that these seem- 
ingly different imponderable agents, are but so many 
twinsisters of sensation, belonging to the one common 
parent Magnetism. 

And first, with regard to Galvanism and Electricity. 
The only seeming difference worthy of remark between 
these fluids, is that more power can be got up on a Gal- 
vanic battery than an Electric "machine, and that they 
differ in the manner of collecting and concentrating the 
power, one being excited into action by chemical affini- 
ty, and the other by friction. In matter they are the 
same. They are both governed by the same law, and 
produce the same effects, both upon animate and inani- 
mate matter. Galvanism is of two kinds, positive and 
negative. So is Electricity. Electricity has in matter 
a constant tendency to an equilibrium, so has Galvan- 
ism. Galvanism is at all times repulsive towards its fel- 
low, and attractive towards ponderable matter; so is 
Electricity. The mechanical effects of Electricity con- 
sists in motion produced by attraction and repulsion ; so 
does Galvanism. With Galvanism in matter, attraction 
takes place between two substances charged, one with 
positive, and the other with negative Galvanism, and re- 
pulsion with two substances filled either with both pos- 
itive or both negative Galvanism. Precisely so with 
Electricity. Electricity will compose substances that 
will not unite without its agency and influence, and de- 
compose those already united by chemical affinity; so 
also with Galvanism. The best conductors of Galvan- 
ism are also the best conductors of Electricity. Non- 
conductors of one, are also non conductors of the other. 



MAGNETISM. 3 

The effects of electricity or its intensity are in an inverse 
proportion to the square of the distance; so with Galvan- 
ism, The effects of Galvanism upon animate matter the 
living system is to produce motion, sensation, thought 
and heat; so also with Electricity. Electricity has been 
successfully applied to the cure of disease; so has Gal- 
vanism. Nothing can resist the decomposing influence 
of Galvanism; the same may be said of Electricity. — 
Galvanism will produce a sudden extinguishment of life; 
Electricity will produce instantaneous death. In a word, 
they are the same principle, the same fluids, and never 
for a moment would have been thought dissimilar, but 
one was produced, or excited by chemical affinity, and 
the other by friction, or in other words the equilibrium 
was broken in the former by chemical affinity, and in 
the latter bv friction. 



CHAPTER IL 

MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY COMPARED. 

The force between two magnets of attraction and re- 
pulsion, or between their poles at different distances, 
varies in an inverse proportion to the square of the dis- 
tance. So does the force of the electric fluid vary in 
the same manner and proportion from an electric body. 
Magnetism is of two kinds, austral and boral, positive 
and negative. Electricity is also of two sorts, vitreous 
and resinous, positive and negative. In both, these two 
principles of positive and negative, are diametrically op- 
posed to each other in effect, and in both, those of the 
same names as positive and positive or negative, and 
negative repel one another, while those of diffe rent names 
as positive and negative, or negative and positive attract 
each other. The principle in both has a constant ten- 
dency to an equilibrium in matter, and are at all times 
2 



BAGG ON 



governed by an immutable law — attraction and repul- 
sion, a law governing no other principles or fluids. The 
objections as to the identity of Electricity and Magnet- 
ism, and the reason why they have been taught to be 
different in the books, are, say they, Electricity is capa- 
ble of being excited, communicated or transferred from 
one body to another, and Magnetism cannot be. The 
directive properties of the magnet North and South, as 
well as the declination, dip, and annual and diurnal vari- 
eties, together with the different intensities in different 
parts of the earth, are peculiar to the magnet, and do 
not appertain to electrified bodies. These objections are 
triumphantly and in wholesale answered,byadmitting the 
fact by us asserted and partly proved as above, by their 
general and minute analogy in their laws of government 
and their being one and the same fluid or principle and 
effect. For it will be readily perceived that admitting 
them to be one and the same fluids, or the electric flu- 
id?, to be the magnetic principle, it only shows that iron, 
nickle, and cobalt, are so effected by the electric fluids, 
that when left free to move like the compass needle, 
points North and South, and so far from proving them 
to be a distinct principle, it only shows a characteristic 
trait of the electric fluids when applied to these metals. 
Should we follow up this idea by the light of this princi- 
ple, we should find that the effects of Magnetism or Elec- 
tricity are as varient throughout matter, as they are dif- 
ferent in density, shape, color, and texture, and that 
their being excited into action by friction, percussion, 
chemical action, oxydation, the suns rays, and chemical 
affinity, was the reason why they have hitherto been 
considered and treated as two distinct principles. 

We might here cite the alkalies and acids, the me- 
talic oxides, oxygen and hydrogen gasses, and the whole 
class of metals, and show their union and color to be the 
effect of this principle, but forbear, and will add but one 
other argument which will for' ever put the matter at 



MAGNETISM. 5 

rest and beyond a doubt. If we connect a piece of iron 
or steel, bent in the form of a horse-shoe, wound with 
copper wire insulated by being covered with silk or cot- 
ton, and unite their terminations at each end with the 
wires or poles of an electric machine, galvanic battery, 
or leyden vial, in operation or charged with fluid, the 
piece of steel or iron will immediately become a mag- 
net. That end of the magnet that is connected with 
the copper plate of the battery or the positive wire of 
the electric machine will become the North pole of the 
magnet, and that of the negative wire of the electric 
machine or the wire attached to the zinc plate will be- 
come the negative or South pole of the magnet, and 
when communicated by induction to steel needles left 
free to move, will point to the poles of the earth, its po- 
sitive pole to the South, and its negative one to the 
JNTorth. When strong magnets are thus charged, they 
are made by a rotary wheel set in motion by attraction 
and repulsion, and so constructed as to pass through 
thimbles of quicksilver at each quarter section of the cir- 
cle, to throw off an electric spark like the prime conduc- 
tor of an electric machine or leyden vial. Thus then, 
showing and proving at once, r in this small compass, the 
identity clearly of all the imponderables. The com- 
mencement of the action of the galvanic fluids from the 
battery was caused by the decomposition of water w r hich 
is formed of hydrogen and oxygen gasses, together with 
the action of the acid upon the mettle. When the flu- 
ids passed along the wire from the galvanic battery we 
will term them, for the sake of illustration, 1 the gal- 
vanic fluids. When they passed spirally around the bent 
piece of iron upon the covered copper wire, we will call 
them magnetic ; when they were made to reassume 
their lost equilibrium, or their chain was broken t up, by 
passing through the cups or thimbles of murcury, they 
were electricity, as was shown in their being given oil 
in sparks. These sparks were made sensible to the ear 



b BAGG ON 

by an audible cracking noise. They were intensely hot 
to the touch, which showed they were coloric, and these 
same galvanic, magnetic, hot, shocking sparks, produced 
upon the eye from its construction, the sensation of light. 
The sound, and the light and heat, together with the 
contraction and expansion or attraction and repulsion 
which produced the spark, were all produced by one 
and the same principle, operating upon the mind through 
its different sentient organs. 

Do we not then clearly see, that the electric fluids di- 
rectly excites magnetic phenomena, and the magnetic 
fluids produce electric effects, proving clearly and beyond 
the fear of contradiction, both to be identical, one and 
the same, and reduced to a demonstration so certain 
that they need only to be stated to be assented to. For 
one 7 is as clearly proved by the other as addition is by 
subtraction, or multiplication by division, and vice ver- 
sa. In this manner, by the galvanic battery alone, can 
magnets be made that will lift tons, and may be increas- 
ed without doubt, to almost any extent. 

We might here add were it necessary, numberless ob- 
servations and experiments both by land and sea, of the 
effects of lightning or electricity, upon the compass nee- 
dle during thunder storms, as well as upon the tools of 
silver smiths, rendering them useless, the one by the re- 
version of its poles, and the other by converting them in- 
to permanent magnets, as well as the effects of the Auro- 
ra-borealis or Northern lights upon the human system, 
producing electric phenomena, so as to be able to give 
off sparks, but conceive it not necessary, after what has 
been said upon the subject. In conclusion, we observe 
that every subtance or principle that is governed by the 
law of attraction and repulsion must be magnetic. Elec- 
tricity is governed by no other law whatever, in any of 
its operations. Electricity then, must therefore be the 
magnetic fluids themselves. 



MAGNETISM. 7 

CHAPTER III. 

OXYGEN WITH HYDROGEN G ASSES. 

Having, as we believe, not only established success- 
fully by analogy, but by positive proof, the identity of 
electricity and magnetism, we pass on to the considera- 
tion of oxygen and hydrogen gasses. The former of 
these, according to Sir Humphrey Davy and all our best 
modern chemists, has never been obtained free from 
light. Oxygen gas then, is a compound of oxygen and 
light, and is so subtle that it must be judged of by its ef- 
fects only. We find that this material is necessary for 
exciting the magnetic fluids from the galvanic battery, 
eliminating] the same from the electric machine, and is 
always combined with iron ore, to form a natural mag- 
net. In the first, the water is decomposed as w 7 ell as 
the zinc and copper oxydized. In the second the rubber 
as proved by Dr. Wallaston, is an oxide of metal, and 
the latter when found natural in the earth, is invariably 
an oxide of iron. It would then appear that after the 
strictest scrutiny, we possess no means to get up, show 
and make sensible, the phenomena of electricity, galvan- 
ism or magnetism but by the use and agency of oxygen 
gas. And when we take into consideration the fact, that 
oxygen gas, forms at least one fifth part of the atmos- 
pheric air of our globe; that it unites with every simple 
substance in nature in one or more proportions, forming 
with them all compounds, varient in proportion to its 
quantity ; when we reflect that the seeds of vegetables 
will not germinate without its presence; the plant grow 
and thrive without its influence; that its color is owing 
to its effects; that it is one of the causes of animal life; 
that no animal can live in an atmosphere without it; that 
it is the cause of, not only the color of arterial blood, bat 
all other substances in nature; the cause oi % heat light, 
sound, motion, and sensation, that it is one of the causes 
of combustion; that it forms a component part of all wu 






8 BAGG ON 

eat and drink; that it is united in one proportion with 
nitrogen to form atmospheric air; in another with hy- 
drogen to form water; with all the metals to form ox- 
ides, and with each to form different compounds of the 
same metal; with the metalic bases^of one class to form al- 
kalies; with another to form acids, and with the same in 
different proportions, to form different acids of the same 
class, we are struck with its illimitable diffusion, its ever 
varying combination, use, and presence in the material 
world. If oxygen gas unites with any combustible, light 
is thrown off and heat becomes sensible. In a word, it 
is so universally diffused and combined with every ma- 
terial substance in nature; its presence so necessary, ac- 
tive and decided, that we are constrained to believe, and 
therefore assume, that oxygen gas is a compoun of oxy- 
gen and positive light or the fluid of positive magnetism. 



CHAPTER IV. 

HYDROGEN GAS. 

Hydrogen, like oxygen gas, forms a component part of 
almost every material substance in nature. It is the 
lightest as well as the most combustible of all material 
substances known. From these and other characteris- 
tics, it would seem that like oxygen gas it is a compound 
ol hydrogen and light, and that its imponderable part 
bore so large a share in the proportion of its compound, 
that it is made up of almost latent, or if the expression 
were allowable, of condensed light itself. It was prov- 
ed by Sir Humphrey also, and confirmed since his day 
t>y the most able modern chimists of both Europe and 
America, that hydrogen is always found in a positive 
state of electricity or magnetism, and that it has a great- 
er affinity or attraction for oxygen gas than any other 
known substance (except potassium.) Like oxygen gas 



MAGNETISM. I) 

it is ever varying in its combinations as well as its uni- 
versal diffusion, and like that substance sometimes it ex- 
ists in a solid or liquid, and at other times in a gaseous 
state, and when united with oxygen gas in a state of 
perfect neutralization or equilibrium forms w T ater. It also 
unites with that substance in another form in a different 
proportion to form a class of vegetable products such as 
gums, sugar, starch, &c. In another class where the 
oxygen is in excess to form a class called acids, and an- 
other class where the hydrogen preponderates, to form 
a class of compounds which are the most combustible of 
all vegetable products, such as oils, resins, and alcohol 
It forms also the base or enters largely into all the com- 
pounds of the most combustible substances known. We 
therefore assume that hydrogen is united with an im- 
ponderable base similar to oxygen which is light, and 
that this light is the positive magnetic fluid. 



CHAPTER V. 

TWO KINDS OF LIGHT. 



It will be perceived by what has been said, that we 
make but two kinds of light, the positive and negative, 
and that these constitute and form the magnetic^ fluids 
themselves. Indeed the beautiful transparent form, and 
appearance of water itself, would, simply presented to 
the sense of vision, go far to establish the truth of this 
position, without farther proof. It looks like latent or 
condensed light itself, held together in a liquid form by 
the mutual attraction and repulsion . between their basis 
and other constituent elements. That light enters into 
all and every substance in nature, is ^absorbed and be- 
comes latent, will not be denied. The different colors of 
different material substances in nature agreeable to the 
Newtonian theory proves it. Decomposition, chemical 



10 BAGG ON 

action, friction, percussion, and combustion demonstrate 
it. Were it necessary to still further confirm it, we 
would merely mention that it forms a component part of 
all water whether, in the ocean, seas, lakes, rivers, bays, 
the vapor of atmospheric air or surface of the earth. — 
Being thus universally diffused it would not be material 
whether they were united with oxygen or hydrogen or 
not. Certain it is however that both, and all, are so equal- 
ly diffused, present and existant that the idea of their 
identity is hardly seperable. It has been mentioned that 
oxygen and hydrogen do not always present themselves 
in gasseous forms, as they are the constituents of an un- 
limited number and variety of substances both solid and 
liquid, therefore each may exist like the two electricities 
and be obtained in an attractive state without the phe- 
nomena of light, heat, and motion, but like the two 
principles when brought together, and united by attrac- 
tion they give out by repulsion these fluids with such 
powerful action, and in such a condition, that motion, * 
heat, and light are produced. The appearance of light, 
heat, motion, and detonation of a mixture of oxygen and 
hydrogen gasses, in the proportion to form water, by 
compression, heat, or any other means, are analagous, 
to the phenomena of an electric shock from a machine, 
or thunder and lightning from the storm cloud. They 
are the same in principle and effect, and only differ in 
form. The rationale of their action, as well as every at- 
tribute or effect is the same, to wit: an effort of the mag- 
netic or electric fluids to regain their lost equilibrium. 
Although light is made apparent or produced by friction, 
percussion, electricity, decomposition, combustion, and 
chemical affinity, its original great source is the sun's 
rays. They consist of two kinds distinguished by two 
primary colors, the red and the blue. In w 7 hat manner 
they are produced, emitted and repelled from the sun 
and" attracted to our earth, we shall not now stop to in- 
quire. It is sufficient for our present purpose to know, 



MAGNETISM. 11 

that such is the mutual action between the sun and this 
earth, that two distinct kinds of light, alike as to illumi- 
nation, but different in some other respects, are convey- 
ed to this earth, and produce by their joint action with 
each other, and upon ponderable matter, that illumina- 
ting sensation upon the eye called light, and upon mat- 
ter, such effects both animate and inanimate, organic and 
inorganic, as to entitle them to the appellation of the vi- 
vifying principle or that of life. 



CHAPTER VI. 

LIGHT THE MAGNETIC FLUIDS. 

That the ravs of light aie the magnetic fluids we in- 
fer from their being the animating, stimulating or invig- 
orating principle of nature. From their appearance and 
presence on every electric • r chemical action, combus- 
tion, or composition. 

From their being with oxygen and hydrogen the cause 
of all the variegated colors in nature. From their be- 
ing governed by the same laws that govern the magnet- 
ic rluids; from their rendering iron and steel magnetic, 
simply by the exposure of those metals to their influ- 
ence. From their being the cause of what is called ca- 
loric or the matter of heat, and from the effects of the 
electro magnetic machine, as described and explained in 
chapter second of these lines. That they are the ani- 
mating principle of nature, is apparent from their being 
the magnetic fluids themselves, as no vegetable or ani- 
mal ever lived, thrived, or grew without action or mo- 
tion of its vessels necessary to its nutrition and assimu- 
lation, and as there is no motion in nature except by 
magnetism, as we shall show at its proper time and place. 
they must grow from the action of these fluids and no 
other, therefore their being the magnetic fluids is an ar- 



12 BAGG ON 

gument of their being the animating principle. Why do 
not vegetables thrive and grow in winter as well as sum- 
mer ? Is it not owing to a deficiency of light? Why do 
they not grow as well under the frigid as the torrid zone? 
Is it not light and heat that stimulate all nature into ac- 
tion in the spring by the more concentrated action of the 
rays of the sun upon this earth? What is it that stimu- 
lates the blade of grass to shoot forth, as well as the 
bear, the dormouse and the myriads of creeping things 
and flying insects into action in the spring? It is the 
genial rays of light producing a motion and action upon 
the whole face of nature. All vegetables are attracted 
towards the light. All flowers in nature are attracted 
by light and follow the sun in his course during the day 
and to his retreat, and in the mrrning meet his rising- 
lustre with the same unerring law. The leaves of plants 
are changed in position during the day by this principle. 
Plants that grow in the shade or dark, are pale, sickly, 
and without color, such as cabbage, celery, potatoe 
vines, &c. Vegetables that grow beneath stones, or 
places devoid of light, are well known to be w r hite, soft, 
and aqueous. Thus then, their color is owing to light. 
Not only their color but their taste and odor are deri- 
ved from it also. Light contributes greatly to the ma- 
turity of fruits and seeds. Under the burning sun of Af- 
rica, vegetables are more odoriferous, of a stronger taste 
and more abounding in resin. Animals also in general, 
droop, become unhealthy, and sometimes die when de- 
prived of light. Persons confined from light become 
sickly, sallow, feeble, and watery pustules bi^eak out up- 
on the skin. Worms, grubs, and catterpillars which live 
in the earth, or in wood, are of a whitish color, being 
deprived of light. The parts of fish exposed to light, 
as the back and fins, are uniformly colored, but other 
parts which are not exposed to light are white. Birds 
which inhabit tropical climates, have much brighter plu- 
mage than those of the North. The feathers upon the 



MAGNETISM. 13 

back and breast which are exposed to light are colored 
and more bright than those not exposed. Rabbits and 
weasels in the North become white in winter from want 
of light, and change back to brown in summer. In the 
mineral kingdom the effects of light are not less striking. 
Metalic oxides become combustible when exposed to 
light, as w r ell as a mixture of oxygen and clorine gasses. 
"From their appearance on electric action and combus- 
tion, as well as chimical affinity." If we charge an elec- 
tric machine or galvanic battery, and bring the wires 
within a certain distance of each other, an equilibrium is 
formed, an attraction takes place, followed by repulsion, 
and heat, and light is produced, and the machine is dis- 
charged. The atmosphere of this earth is said to be 
healthy when, besides its due proportion of oxygen and 
nitrogen, the two electricities are in a state of equilibri- 
um. But that these are occasionally interrupted, and 
vary from this equilibrium, none will deny. All have 
witnessed thunder storms, which are nothing but an ef- 
fort to restore this lost equilibrium between the electri- 
cities. The result is characterized by a noise called 
thunder, and a series of illuminations termed lightning. 
Now we know that the causes are attractions and re- 
pulsions between the electric or magnetic fluids, and are 
seen by the eye to be light, and heard by the ear to be 
thunder. If it strike us we could have felt it. It pro- 
duces in the air an odor not unlike sulphur, and if con- 
ducted to our mouths might be tasted, as shown by ap- 
plying the wires of an electric machine to our tongue, 
when one pole is presented, the taste is an acid one, 
yvhen the other, it is alkaline. Thus then, the magnet- 
ic fluids are seen as well as heard, felt, smelled ana tas- 
ted. Like so many witnesses in a court of justice, A, is 
sworn first, then B, next C, then D, and E. The eye 
is the first witness, simply from its peculiar construction, 
and to that the organ of vision, the magnetic fluids, gave 
the sensation of light. To the ear, the next witness 






14 BAGG ON 

these same fluids from the same impulse, gave the im- 
pression of sound, called thunder, and owing to its con- 
struction, the impression was subsequent to that of the 
eye. The shock or heat, had it been felt, would have 
been next, and then taste, and last smell. These seve- 
ral sensations, were all produced as we have before said, 
by one and the same principle — the magnetic, or what 
has hitherto been called the electric fluids. In chemical 
affinity and combustion, to say nothing of friction or per- 
cussion, these magnetic fluids are seen to be light. In 
chimical affinity, where the attractions and repulsions 
are powerful, as in the union of oxygen and hydrogen 
gasses, or of potassium with oxygen from water or ice, 
these fluids are seen to be light, and will be acknowledg- 
ed. In combustion, which Sir Humphrey Davy defined 
to be a series of powerful electrical attractions and re- 
pulsions, they are invariably seen to be light. No pro- 
cess then, of combustion takes place, from that of a burn- 
ing taper, up to Mount Vesuvius or Etna, but lightjs 
evolved and becomes more or less luminous and abund- 
ant. Indeed such has been the ingenuity and persever- 
ence, of some of the French chemists, in the last five 
years, that they have at length succeeded in producing 
and continuing a constant and uniform light from elec- 
tricity or galvanism, and at so cheap a rate, that it is less 
expensive than the common gas lights. So successful 
have been their experiments, that at this moment they 
are lighting the streets of Paris in that manner. The 
following is copied from a Washington paper, on the sub- 
ject : "A letter from Paris dated Oct. 21st, gives the 
following account of the first public trial of an experi- 
ment w r hich has been more than four years in prepara- 
tion for fixing at a given point the electric fluid, and ma- 
king it applicable to the purposes of lighting the streets 
and private houses. On one of the bases of the statues 
called the Pavillion de Lille on the Place de la Concor- 
de, a glass globe of apparently twelve or thirteen inch- 



MAGNETISM. 15 

es diameter, with a moveable reflector, was fixed in con- 
nection with a voltaic battery, and a little before nine 
o'clock was thrown into it by a conductor. At this time 
all the gas lights of the place, about one hundred in num- 
ber, were burning. As soon as the electric light ap- 
peared, the nearest gas lights, had the same dull, thick, 
and heavy appearance as oil lamps have by the side ot 
gas. Soon afterwards the gas lamps were extinguished, 
and the electric light shone forth in all its brilliancy. — 
Within one hundred yards of the light it was easy to 
read the smallest print — it was in fact as light as day. 
The astonishment of the assembled multitude, was very 
great, and their delight, as strong as their astonishment. 
The estimate made by scientific persons, who were pre- 
sent, was, that the electric light, was equal to twenty of 
the gas lamps, and consequently, that five of these lights, 
would suffice to light the whole Place, most brilliantly. 
As regards the expense of production, nothing positive 
has transpired, but I think I may safely assume, that it 
would be considerably less, than that of the generation 
of gas, whilst the first outlay for machinery and conduc- 
tors, would not amount to one twentieth part, of that re- 
quired for gas works. There would be also another 
great advantage in the electric light. It gives out no 
bad smell ; it emits none ofthose elements, which in the 
burning of gas, are injurious to health, and explosion 
would be impossible. The only danger that would arise, 
would be at the battery itself, but that would be under 
the control of competent persons ; and even in this re- 
spect, there would be no danger, even to unskilful per- 
sons, with an apparatus of moderate size. Internal light- 
ing would be as practicable as external lighting, for 
by conductors, the fluids would be conveyed to evjeiy 
part of the house. The experiments performed last 
night, was with a voltaic battery of two hundred pairs, 
composed as follows: 1st, an outer globe of glass ; 2d, 
in this globe a cylinder of charcoal open at both oiuU 
3 



16 • BAGG ON 

arid plunged into the nitric acid, contained in the outer 
globe; 3d, in the cylinder of charcoal a porous porcelain 
vase, containing acidulated water with sulphuric acid, 
this replaces the cloth in the common battery ; 4th, in 
the porcelain vase a cylinder of amalgam of zinc and cop- 
per, plunged in acidulated water. The pile was on the 
Pavillion de Lille, the two copper conductors from the 
two poles and pointed with charcoal, lead to an empty 
globe from which the air had been exhausted. The two 
fluids on meeting, produce a soft, but most intense light. 
I understand the experiment was considered highly suc- 
cessful by the authorities, who were present, and that 
it is to be repeated on a large scale. Should the thing 
work, as well in a general way, as it did last night, and 
the cost be less than that of gas, which it must be, there 
will be a dreadful revolution in gas works. I have heard 
it asserted by persons, who are acquainted with M. Ach- 
ereau, the gentleman who performed the experiment 
last night, that a company for the supply of the electric 
light, would realize a handsome profit, on charging only 
a sixth, of what is now paid for gas. The strength of 
the electric light, did not appear to me, to exceed that 
of the hydro-oxygen; but is much more simple in the ap- 
paratus required, and much less costly in the expense of 
the production. The hydro-oxygen light requires a 
double, and more expensive apparatus, and is only ap- 
plicable to a few localities. The electric light, may be 
applied externally, and internally, in any place. Thus 
then, art has succeeded at length, in so imitating the at- 
tractions and repulsions between the sun and earth, be- 
tween the poles of the two magnets, or galvanic batte- 
ry, that an artificial, constant, luminous, atmosphere in 
all respects like that of day, is produced and kept up. — 
Need then, any thing more be said to prove the identity 
with the electric or magnetic fluids ? Do we not see 
that the sensation of light is owing to the peculiar con- 
struction of the organ, and not to any difference between 



MAGNETISM. 17 

what has been termed light, and the magnetic fluids. — 
We have said that the law of government for one, was 
that of the other. Magnetism obeys no other law but 
a ttract ion and repulsion ; neither does light. Magnet- 
ism converges to a point, in the centre of all objects, and 
diverges from the centre in all directions, towards the 
circumference. The former is produced by attraction, 
the latter by repulsion. Light is attracted or converged 
by a denser medium, and separated or dispersed by a 
er one : so are the magnetic fluids. The former as 
before is produced by attraction, and the latter by re- 
pulgion, in both instances, in both fluids. The absorp- 
of light is effected by attraction, and reflection by 
m, precisely the law of magnetism. In a word, 
refraction, dispersion, the correspondence and equality 
of the angles of incidence and reflection, as w T ell as the 
different colors of objects governing light, are produced 
by the well known and established law of magnetism, 
attraction and repulsion, and are but different terms to 
express the operations of the same law of both light and 
magnetism through different media. Well may the 
schoolmen declare, that light is polarized, when it is go- 
verned in all its varied operations by no other law T than 
that of magnetism, the great characteristic of which con- 
sists in nothing else but motion, produced by an antag- 
onizing principle, the extreme points of which are term- 
ed poles. To go further into the subject, would carry 
us into optics ; which is inconsistent with our present 
limits ; our only object, being at this time to prove the 
identity of magnetism and light. 



CHAPTER VII. 

MAGNETS FROM LIGHT. 

We have said that light was the magnetic principle, 



18 BAGG ON 

and in the former chapter, have made an attempt to 
proye it. In addition we would observe, that magnets 
from steel have been made, both in Europe and Ameri- 
ca, by exposure to the direct rays of the sun. Dr. Mor- 

V" rischini, a respectable physician of Rome, discovered 
this remarkable property in the violet rayg. Prof. Play- 
fair saw the experiment by Dr. Carp, in the absence of 
Morrischini, before a party of English and Italian gen- 
tlemen, an account of which was published in the Edin- 
burgh Journal of science. In one hour's exposure, the -h 
needle had acquired polarity, and when put upon its / 
point, traversed with alacrity, and attracted and suppor- 
ted a fringe of iron filings. The extremity of the nee- 
dle that was exposed to the violet rays, repelled the 
North pole of another magnet, or compass needle. This 
effect was so distinctly marked, as to leave no doubt in 
the minds of any who were present, that the needle re- 
ceived its magnetism from the action of the violet rays. 
The subject remained in this situation, when Mrs. Sum- 
merville directed to it her attention, and succeeded in 
about two hours, of rendering the needle magnetic. The 
exposed end, acquiring North polarity, from the violet 
rays. This experiment was often repeated, and always 
with the same result. By a similar process she ascer- 
tained that the indigo rays, had nearly as great effect 

x , as the violet, and that the blue and green rays, produ- 
ced the same effect, though in a less degree. Mrs. Sum- 
merville applied the same method to watch and clock 
springs, and they were found to receive a stronger de- 
gree of magnetism, than the needles. She next expo- 
sed as before, half covered, to the sun's rays, through 

— . glass, colored blue by cobalt, $nd they were distinctly 
magnetic as before. Needles exposed under green glass 
received the same property. 

In addition, in corroboration of the above, we would 
state, that previous to reading any thing upon the sub- 
ject of the description here detailed, or any other, we 



MAGNETISM. 19 

conceived the idea of the identity of light and magnet- 
ism, in eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, and procured 
watch springs, as well as needles, and broke the former 
into pieces of two inches in length, and exposed them to 
light behind the windows of our office, suspended by a 
single fibre of raw silk from the cocoon, in the month of 
August, and they invariably became magnetic in eight 
or ten days, and pointed to the poles of the earth, North 
and South, as w r ell as attracted in a sensible manner, 
magnets resting upon bits of light wood, upon the sur- 
' of w r ater, so as to bring them in contact, as well as 
to seperate them to the greatest distance compatible 
with the room, from the vessel containing the water. 

It remains only to be observed further upon this part 
of the subject, that from the observations of the most ob- 
serving and scientific surveyors, as well as mariners, 
that the needle undergoes a diurnal as well as annual 
revolution. That is, that it is affected so by light, at 
different times of day, as well as different times in the 
year, as to cause a manifest, and marked variation of its 
course. And more recently it has also been observed, 
that moisture, fog, vapor, or water, will also produce a 
variation, thus showing the effect of oxygen and hydro- 
gen gasses upon the same principle. Thus much for in- 
ductive facts in support of our position, as to the identi- 
ty of light and magnetism. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CALORIC OR MAGNETISM IN A STATE OF REPULSION. 

We next come to the consideration and examination 
of that principle which produces the sensation of heat, 
or what is termed in the books, caloric, or the matter of 
. We have in the proceeding chapters, endeavor- 
ed to prove the identitv of galvanism, electricitv, tight, 
3* 



20 BAGG ON 

oxygen, with hydrogen gasses, and magnetism, and with 
what success, we leave the reader to determine, not 
however, without the consciousness, that we have con- 
vinced some, and at least staggered others, in their for- 
mer faith in the doctrine, of the variety and multiplicity 
of the imponderable agents in nature, as taught and 
inculcated in the books. We labored in chapter seventh 
to prove, and brought forward many facts to substan- 
tiate it, that light was absorbed by all ponderable bo- 
dies. That it is at all times repulsive towards its fellow, 
and attractive towards material substances, and that 
they have constantly, under all circumstances, and at all 
times, a tendency towards an equilibrium in nature. — 
That in vapor, or gasseous media or substances, when 
in this state of equilibrium, they invariably produce to the 
organ of vision, the sensation of light, like that of day, 
or as that mentioned, produced by the galvanic battery 
in lighting the streets of Paris, but again being absorbed 
by, and uniting with imponderable matter, which it so 
effects, modifies, and controls, that it subjects it to three 
varieties of form, states, or condition, and but three, so- 
lid, liquid, and aeriform, or that of gas. Although all 
ponderable matter is indebted to the influence of these, 
for its form, color, and nature, yet it in return, so mod- 
ifies and effects them, as to produce different appearan- 
ces to the organ of vision, and that of touch, or organ 
of the sense of heat, in the change from one to the oth- 
er. These fluids, it will be remembered, are governed 
throughout nature, by the immutable law of attraction 
and repulsion, and carry the same arbitrary law into all 
ponderable matter, on which it depends for its govern- 
ment, and action. When these substances are ?n a state 
of attraction, or the magnetic current is strongest from 
the circumference towards the centre, we term it at- 
traction, and when the current or force is strongest 
from the centre towards the circumference, we term it 
repulsion. It will be readily seen, that in solid substan- 



MAGNETISM. Si 

ces, attraction predominates over repulsion. In liquids, 
as water, they are neutralized, or in a state of equilibri- 
um, and that in passes or aeriform substances, repulsion 
prevails. The change from one form or condition to 
the other, is governed by this invariable law, that where 
a substance becomes solid, or more dense, attraction or 
the centripetal force prevails, the temperature of that 
body is lessened, and where the c entrifu gal force pre- 
dominates, or that from the centreTo the circumference, 
(repulsion) is increased. This term temperature then, 
is the name of a feeling of opposite or antagonizing sen- 
sations. They are called heat and cold. Heat then, in- 
stead of being a substance, an imponderable fluid, is sim- 
ply that change, action or motion, in the sentient organ 
of sense^from that condition of matter called repulsion, 
and cold, that sensation produced by attraction. They 
are opposite in principle throughout nature, and antag- 
onized to each other. For centuries then, what has been 
taught by the schoolmen, to be a matter, or an impon- 
derable fluid, is simply a quality or condition of matter, 
produced by a change in material substances, by the 
magnetic fluids, and stands the same relation to the 
nerves of temperature, which Sir Charles Bell has wise- 
ly and properly separated from the sense of touch, that 
light does to the sense of vision, both being simply sen- 
sations induced upon the mind, through the organ? of 
body, by this principle, modified by the different condi- 
tions of ponderable matter, from the particular arrange- 
ment or their ultimate atoms. Their differing from each 
other, is owing to the different construction of the or- 
gans, and not to the principle. The difference in the 
sensations is caused by the different conditions of mat- 
ter, produced by the imponderable principle. All sub- 
stances in nature, while occupying the condition of at- 
traction, so far as they are tested by sensation, are gen- 
erally .lark, hard, solid, heavy and cold. Those on the 
contrary, that are characterized by that condition term- 






22 BAGG ON 

ed repulsion, are generally soft, luminous, light, and hot, 
Those occupying the middle state or condition between 
the extremes, in a state of equilibrium, are what may be 
termed temperate, or neutralized between the two. 

These then, are the results of different states of the 
same matter in a state of natnre; but by artificial means, 
such as the galvanic battery, combustion, or other cau- 
ses, these may be so changed, that their line of demar- 
cation is not so perfectly apparent; as they run more or 
less into each other, from the point of equilibrium to that 
of the extremes. It appears then, that light or the mag- 
netic fluids, are absorbed by all material substances, en- 
ters into their combination, and so operates upon them, 
as to produce that kind of change which communicates 
to the nerves of temperature, the sensations of heat and 
cold ; terms implying a quality of matter, from the 
change in the arrangement of their ultimate particles ra- 
ther than a positive substance or principle. Terms, in- 
stead of being positive in their signification are entirely 
relative. There is no such thing as positive heat, or po- 
sitive cold in nature. Both depend upon sensation, and 
are therefore relative. Both, the names of two extreme 
points, or poles like the compass needle, of one continu- 
ous line, the middle of which forms the equilibrium point 
above mentioned. For not only what appears to be hot, 1 
to one person, is to another cold, but to the same per- 
son, feels differently at different times, but also different 
to different parts of the same body at the same time. 

If I immerse one of my hands in water at the temper- 
ature of one hundred and fifty Fahrenheit, it feels w r arm 
or hot, and if I also immerse the other in the same man- 
ner, at the same time, in the same element, at the tem- 
perature of one hundred and ten, it will feel warm also. 
But if I now change them from one to the other, the 
one that was immersed in the fluid at the temperature 
of one hundred and fifty, feels cold, although the water 
is still twelve degrees above blood heat and the other 



MAGNETISM. 23 

will become warm; if I again change them, they will be 
again changed in feeling, and vice versa. 

The rays of light, or the rays from the sun. although 
they illuminate the horizen in their passage to the earth, 
do not produce heat until they are attracted, and enter 
into atipn with ponderable matter, and are 

aeain repeilejjL The air is not heated by these rayg in. 
coming down to us. On the contrary, the nearer we 
approach the sun. or recede from the earth, the colder 
it is, which would not be the case were the sun either a 
large ball of fire, a mass of caloric, or these rays the 
matter of heat, mi::t up with, and jumbled together, 
(agreeable to the books) with the calorific and chemical 
rays. 

The limits of this work will not permit us to go fur- 
ther into this branch of the subject, at this time, than to 
observe, that we object to their being primarily in na- 
ture, in the solar spectrum, seven colors, but on the con- 
trary believe, and therefore assume, that there are but 
two, the red and the blue, from which, with their com- 
binations with ponderable matter, by reflection and re- 
fraction, the others are produced, as well as every oth- 
er variety and shade of color in nature. 

\Te are induced to come to this conclusion, from the 
fact, among a variety of others, that the solar spectrum, 
previous to its analysis by the prism, is absorbed, and 
twice reflected and refracted, and that in these opera- 
tions, it meets with other light, at these points of attrac- 
tion and repulsion, as well as ponderable matter, and 
that all these dispersions, reflections, refractions, are the 
result of attractions and repulsions, which presuppose 
changes, and therefore, that the very means employed 
to separate them are, from these considerations aione, 
sufficient to produce the different appearances, of color 
upon the organ of vision. 

Added to this, and what has great influence upon our 
mind, at this time, is the fact, that we have, and can at 



24 BAGG ON 

any time produce them all, in mixture and diffusion in a 
liquid form, from the red and the blue. Light we know 
also to be the magnetic fluids, and, therefore must agree 
with them in their nature, number, principles, laws, at- 
tributes, and qualities. The whole of nature is a sys- 
tem of antagonizing principles, and we cannot subscribe 
to one single exception. 

Who was ever so acute in perception, as to discover a 
perfct point or well marked line of demarcation, be- 
tween blue, indigo, and violet ? Who was ever forci- 
bly struck with a surprising contrast between orange 
and yellow? What causes the change of color in the 
changable silk, or the peacock's tail] It has been show- 
ed by Sir David Brewster, that the changes which light 
undergoes by absorption, when viewed through various 
colored media, will change the cblor of the spectrum, as 
well as its intensity also. He therefore, from this and 
other considerations, concludes that there are but three 
primary colors in nature, the red, yellow, and blue. 

Dr. Herschel was of opinion, that the point of great- 
est heat and deoxydizment was outside, and beyond the 
limits of the visible spectrum, which confirms our posi- 
tion, that it is the action of light upon matter by repul- 
sion, that produces the sensation, or sensible effects of 
heat. Were there distinct rays of caloric, mixed with 
those of color, it would be preposterous to think, much 
more to say, that they had more effect w T here they were 
not, than where they w T ere. Subick and Mellone dem- 
onstrated, that the point of greatest heat, was depend- 
ent on the nature of the refracting ponderable medium, 
which is in perfect accordance with our views, and laws 
of magnetism. The best, modern writers of the present 
day divide the solar spectrum into three distinct kinds 
of rays, the colorific, calorific, and chemical. 

We have now disposed of the two first, and will make 
an attempt at the last, when we come to speak of the 



k 



MAGNETISM. 25 

magnetic fluids, and prove chemical affinity to be based 
upon them also. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. 

From what has been said, it will be seen, that we 
:e heat and cold, to be the result of the impressions 
upon the mind, from sensations produced, by the opera- 
tions upon matter by the magnetic fluids. That from 
their action, it is constantly varying from an equilibrium 
to two extremes. That one extreme is produced by at- 
traction and the other by repulsion ; that one produces 
one sensation upon the body, and the other an other; 
that attractio n produces that of cold, and repulsion that 
of heat, and therefore, what the books term caloric, is 
a result instead of the cause of repulsion, and at all times, 
and under all cir< .'instances, directly opposed, and dia- 
metrically antagonized to attraction. 

This being the fact, the books on this subject have 
largely begged the question, and only made the small 
mistake of putting the cart before the horse, by making 
caloric a substance, an imponderable fluid, instead of a 
result of matter, from the operations of the magnetic 
fluids, and that what Dr. Black labored a whole lifetime 
to establish, (latent caloric) is nothing but magnetism in 
a state of attraction, and therefore falls to the ground, 
as well as all that worse than senseless jargon of the 
books, such as "caloric of fluidity," " specific caloric," 
" capacity of caloric/' " conduction of caloric," &c. &c, 
as well as all the other no less confused, and confusing 
terms, such as " attraction of gravitation," " attraction ^ 
of cohesion," "attraction of aggregation," "capilliary at- 



26 BAGG ON 

traction/' &c. &c., and will soon be expunged from the 
vocabulary of literature as worse than useless. 

After having removed this mass of rubbish from our 
path, and established upon its ruins the simple founda- 
tion, the truth of the identiy of all the imponderables, 
with the light of magnetism for our sruide, we cannot 
but anticipate, that we shall be able to show more clear- 
ly than has hitherto been done, the various operations 
of nature, and the laws by which they are governed ; 
and although in our sail into the vast ocean before us, 
our compass may sometimes oscillate for a time, we 
trust that it will yet ultimately settle towards the posi- 
tive pole of truth, and guide us through the dark laby- 
rinth of nature, as she presents herself in the three king- 
doms, to correct results. It will be conceeded by all, 
even by the sticklers for the old theory, that caloric is 
at all times antagonized to all and every species and va- 
riety of their family of attractions, from cohesive up, to 
that of attraction of gravitation. Now is it not a little 
singular, that for centuries, knowing and acknowledging 
this fact, authors should have called one of these dia- 
metrically antagonizing principles, a subtile impondera- 
ble fluid, and the other a property inherent in pondera- 
ble matter, such as attraction of cohesion, and attrac- 
tion of gravitation ] Now to us it would be like yoking 
a brute with an angel, or which would be about the same 
in comparison, to yoke a dead body with a living spirit, 
and look to the span, for results of labor and action. 

Ponderable matter of itself, w T ould be nothing but a 
cold, void, sluggish, lifeless mass, without form, color, 
or action, without the influence of the magnetic fluids. 
It is to them, and them alone, as we shall see, when we 
come to speak in the next chapter, more particularly on 
magnetism, that all ponderable matter, depends for its 
laws and impulse of attraction, or gravitation, as it is 
called, as well as repulsion. Believing therefore with 
Rogers : 



MAGNETISM. 27 

" That very law, which moulds a tear, 

And bids it trickle fron its souree; 

That very law preserves the earth a sphere, 

And guides the planets in their course," 

we have in our vocabulary, but one kind of attraction, 
and one of repulsion, and these depending on the mag- 
netic fluids. The same principle which attracted the sa- 
line particles together to form the tear, when formed 
and perfected, attracted the whole as a body, to the 
earth, that, from its quantity of matter, being the strong- 
er magnet, caused the tear to approach its surface. — 
Thus showing in the simplest manner possible, that at- 
traction of cohesion or aggregation, is precisely the same 
as gravitation, and governed by the same law. If we 
take a themometar properly made, the attraction of the 
mercury will occupy a point, say 32 degrees above ze- 
ro. If we now immerse the bulb in boiling water, the 
mercury immediately mounts up to 212. If we now 
immerse it in a freezing mixture, it is again attracted, 
and falls to 32. If we again put it into boiling water, 
it again rises to 212. This example may be taken as a 
diagram for the two antagonizing principles of all nature. 



CHAPTER X. 

MAGNETISM. 

Magnetism then, is that principle, which not only forms 
the nature, but is the cause of all the compositions and 
decompositions, of all material substances. It resides in 
two imponderable fluids, alike as to illumination, but dif- 
ferent as to color, and other respects, from each other. 
One is probably throw T n off from one pole of the sun, and 
the other from the other. They are mutually at all times 
repulsive of each other, and attractive towards ponder- 
able matter, agreeable to fixed and immutable laws. — 
Whether they find their way down to this earth by re- 
4 



28 BAGG ON 

pulsion between themselves, solely, or by attraction from 
the earth, or both, is immaterial ; certain it is, that they 
come down to us, stimulate with their presence, are ab- 
sorbed by opake bodies, and repelled by others, and Have 
such an effect upon ponderable matter, as to divide it 
into minute little atoms, magnets or globes, too minute 
for the naked eye to discover, which are each endowed 
with a positive and negative pole, and obey the law of 
magnetism, to which it is indebted for its motion, nature, 
color, and texture. The minute atoms of matter from 
this agency, are subject to three varieties of arrange- 
ment, (chapter ix.) attractive, semi-attractive, semi-re- 
pulsive, and repulsive. When they arrange themselves 
with the positive pole of one, to the negative pole of an 
other, they constitute that condition of matter called at- 
traction, and solidity and diminution of temperaturels 
the result. 

When they arrange themselves with the positive pole 
of one, or the negative pole of another, to the equatori- 
al or middle line of an other, they may be said to be neu- 
tralized, or in a state of equilibrium, and constitute that 
condition of matter called liquid, and the temperature is 
generally temperate. 

When the minute atoms are so arranged, as to have 
the positive pole of one, correspond to the postive pole 
of another, or the negative pole of one, correspond to 
the negative pole of another, they may be said to be in 
a state of repulsion, and constitute that condition of mat- 
ter called gasseous or aeriform, and the temperature is 
increased, and light, and levity is the effect. 

These three then, are the only conditions of matter 
upon earth. Although all matter occupies one or other 
of these states or conditions, and is by nature, and may 
by artificial means, be changed from one to the other, 
yet all at the ordinary state of the atmosphere, are not 
alike, some are found in one state or condition, and some 
in another. Hence it may be said to be natural for some 



MAGNETISX. 29 

to be in a solid state, others in a liquid, while others, are 
found in a gasseous state. When a solid is changed to 
a liquid, the motion of the minute atoms from the change, 
produces an increase of temperature, and if so changed 
as to produce complete repulsion, (which produces a 
gasseous condition,) the temperature is still further in- 
crersed, and levity is produced, warmth is felt, and light 
becomes visible. When a gas on the contrary, is con- 
verted into a liquid, or solid, or both, the very reverse 
takes place, and cold is the result. If we take any solid 
substance, iron for instance, or any other metal which 
is solid at the ordinary state of the atmosphere, and ap- 
ply to it the magnetic fluids in a state of repulsion, or 
what is commonly called caloric, the minute little at- 
oms or magnets are changed in their arrangement, and 
they are turned half around, and it is reduced from a so- 
lid to a liquid state in consequence of the change. If we 
now expose to more magnetism, or caloric, as it is call- 
ed, they are moved still further around, until they be- 
come perfectly antagonized to what their first arrange- 
ment was, and the iron or metal, is thrown into a gas- 
seous state ; but there being a constant tendency to an 
equilibrium in matter, with the magnetic fluids, and the 
natural condition of iron being a solid state, the magnet- 
ic fluid is radiated, and attracted to the surrounding air, 
and other objects within the sphere of its influence, and 
the metal is again attracted back to its natural state, ana 
becomes solid. This arrangement of the minute parti- 
cles or ultimate atoms, or magnets, of the metal in its 
natural state, were the positive pole of one, to the neg- 
ative pole of the other ; and in the middle state, or when 
in common language, it was melted, or in the liquid state, 
either the positive or negative pole of one, to the equa- 
torial line of another, and in the last or gasseous state, 
the positive pole of one, to the positive pole of anotho? 
or the negative pole of one, to the negative pole of an 
other. 



30 BAGG ON 

That metals, may be melted and thrown into gas, will 
not be denied, as witness the eruption of volcanoes. The 
lava rises In the form or condition of gas, and falls dow r n 
in the form of cinders. This description and elucida- 
tion, of the different states or conditions of iron, and the 
detail of its changes, may be taken to exemplify the dif- 
ferent states, condition, and rationale, of all material 
substances in nature. It appears then, that the minute 
particles or ultimate atoms of matter, in either condi- 
tion, have each a positive and negative magnetic pole, 
and that the cause of these different conditions, is the 
angle of these poles situated in the mass, relative to each 
other, as w r e have seen as above, and that the varieties 
of nature in material substances of color, nature, tex- 
ture, and temperature ; are owing to these angles. — 
This being settled, and these little minute atoms, being 
magnets to all intents and purposes, having poles like the 
compass needle, and governed by the same principle, 
we infer an other general and immutable law of matter 
—that the law that governs them separately and indi- 
vidually, governs them collectively, or when attracted 
or collected into masses, and therefore that the law of 
the parts is the law of the whole, and conversely, that 
the law of the whole, is the law of its parts. If I make 
a magnet of iron or steel, and find and mark its poles, 
and then cut it into small pieces, as small as the senses 
can determine) each pi^ce, will still be a magnet, and 
each and every piece in the order they occupied in the 
magnet before being severed, will conform with its 
poles to it The law of the whole then, is the law of 
the parts, and the law of the parts, is the law of the 
whole. The same law of motion, that governs my 
whole system, goverus my arm, and the law that gov- 
erns my arm, governs my fingers, and the law that go- 
verns my fingers, governs my arm, and the law that go- 
verns all, governs the whole system. Again, that law 
in this country that governs one individual, governs the 



MAGNETISM. 31 

whole nation of individuals. The law then, that go- i 
verns the whole earth, must be the law of its integrant ' 
parts. The earth is a large magnet, has a North and a 
South pole, and being repelled on one side by light, w r hile 
it is attracted on the other, (as we shall see at the pro- 
per time and place,) revolves it on its axis, from West 
to East in such a manner, every tw T enty-four hours, as 
to produce day and night. It likewise from the same 
cause, differently applied, revolves around the sun once 
a year, in such a manner, as to produce the alternations 
of summer and winter, spring and autumn. In this re- 
volution around the sun, the angle of the poles of the 
earth, with those of the sun, is constantly changing, so 
that in the middle of winter, in this latitude, the poles 
of the earth, are almost at right angles, with those of 
the sun, and in midsummer, they are almost parallel 
with it. Spring and fall, are also produced, in the same 
manner, and depend upon this angle of the poles with 
respect to those of the sun. In these alternations, win- 
ter is antagonized to summer, and spring to autumn. — 
Winter is the result of the attractions from the earth to- 
wards the sun predominating over repulsions, and sum- 
mer by repulsions from the sun, or attraction towards 
the earth overbalancing the repulsions from the earth. 
Spring is the effect of semi-attraction and semi-repul- 
sion, as well as autumn. Now if the whole earth is so 
effected, by the simple fact, that the magnetic axis of 
its poles, is differently situated, relative to those of the 
sun, is it not good logic to infer, that the relative angles, 
or position, of the ultimate atoms of all matter, in the 
three, different conditions, solid, liquid, and aeriform, are 
owing to the same cause, and of all the results, which 
wc have shown to arise from the different conditions 7 
If so, our point is gained, and our coast is clear ; for 
what warms the whole earth in summer, warms a par- 
ticular body upon that earth, and is the cause of the heat 
in a particular compound, and the cause of cold upon 
4* 



32 BAGG ON 

the earth in winter, is the same also. Spring and fail 
. will also correspond to those bodies in which the mag- 
netic fluids are in a state of equilibrium. We shall then 
adopt the term attraction for gravity, and repulsion for 
caloric. The effect of the former, produces the sensa- 
tion of cold, and the latter heat. There is no absolute 
weight, or levity, heat or cold. They are changes pro- 
duced upon mind, and matter, by the magnetic fluids. 
Weight, or gravity, is simply that condition of matter, 
which disposes it to approach the centre, or surface of 
the earth, (attraction) and levity or lightness, that con- 
dition of matter which disposes it to recede from the 
centre, (repulsion) which conditions are both entirely de- 
pendent, upon the magnetic fluids for impulse and mo- 
tion. The former, the current, from the surface or cir- 
cumference, to the centre, (centripetal) and the latter, 
the current from the centre to the circumference, (cen- 
trifugal). That substance which contains the greatest 
quantity of matter, being in the condition, or having the 
proper arrangement of its particles to constitute attrac- 
tion, is the heaviest, and that substance, w T hich contains 
the greatest qeantity of matter, having the proper ar- 
rangement of its ultimate atoms to produce repulsion, is 
the lightest. This is owing to that universal law, that 
the greater always attracts the less, and is antagonized 
to repulsion which is at all times adverse in its opera- 
tions. The only reason then, why any substance or bo- 
dy, falls to the ground, and is called heavy, is attraction 
simply, and why the same substance or body, recedes 
from the earth and flies into atmospheric air, is repulsion. 
/ This law is the cause of composition, and decomposition, 
which, are constantly going on, in the great laboratory 
of nature, and are but other terms to express the same 
ideas. Chemical affinity, attraction of cohesion, aggre- 
gation, capilliary attraction, (chapter ix.) and all other 
attractions, mentioned in the books, are owing to the 
same cause, and governed by the same law; which mul- 



MAGNETISM. 33 

tiplicity of names and divisions, are productive of no 
good, but on the contrary perplex and bewilder the rea- 
der, and by us are therefore discarded. 

When therefore we speak of any substance, simple or 
compound, we shall use the terms attraction and repul- 
sion, without reference to mode or manner, believing 
that that principle, wdiich holds an apple to the tree, by 
its stem, is the same that holds its particles together, as 
well as formed it round, and caused it to fall to the 
around, when the attraction is overcome in the stem, bv 
the superiority of its repulsions. 



CHAPTER XL 

DIGRESSION — INTRICACY OP THE SUBJECT REASONING 

FROM EFFECTS TO CAUSES. 

We have now examined separately, the impondera- 
bles of the books, with oxygen and hydrogen gasses. — 
From our reading, and course of education, the great in- 
fluence of the force of habit upon the mind, together with 
the intricacy of the subject, the mysterious connection 
of mind with matter, the effects of imponderable agents 
upon material substances, the novelty of our doctrine 
with the prejudices of the people, against innovations 
upon established usage, the attempt to bring forth and 
establish a new system of physics and metaphysics, is a 
task next to Herculean, requiring firmness like the rock 
of Gibraltar to carry us onward. To stem the torrent 
of prejudice, of the indolent and ignorant, as well as the 
interested and designing, who have from habit, trod in 
the footsteps of their illustrious predecessors, in the beat- 
en track of their ancestors for ages, for one humble in- 
dividual, is not unlike an attempt, to stem the cataract 
of Niagary in a bark canoe. Regardless of these, but 
trusting to the candor of some, and the charitv of oth- 



34 BAGG ON 

ers, our course is still onward, not exactly like "him" 
of the poet, where he says, " onward he trudged not 
knowing what he sought, and whistled as he went, for 
w 7 ant of thought/ 7 but more like a body, so equally ope- 
rated upon by the forces, for which w T e are contending 
that it requires our whole concentrated energies, to keep 
us momentarily, from flying off in tangents. Our sub- 
ject being as boundless as the universe, and as variega- 
ted as nature, we can hardly expect, to do more in our 
passage through its book, than, to take a passing glance 
chronicle our observations, and thereby sufficiently in- 
terest others, to bring them to our aid, in the investiga- 
tion of the subject. But to the subject itself. There 
has not yet been found, a substance, that has success- 
fully resisted, the decomposing energies, of the electeri- 
zing machine, or the tremendous pow T er of thunder and 
lightning. Caloric is the great decomposing agent of na- 
ture, and breaks down all attractions, and forces them 
asunder. All substances yield up their attractions, and 
are decomposed by light, by the agency of the convex 
lens Sir Humphrey burnt the diamond at Gottengien ; 
and nothing has yet been experimented upon, but what 
has given way to the decomposing influence of a stream 
of oxygen wi'th hydrogen gas, through the medium of 
the compound blow pipe of Dr. Hare. 

In reasoning then, from effects back to causes, we find 
them similar, and therefore identicle, one and the same. 
They are all, the whole family, but magnetism in a state 
of repulsion, directly antagonized to attraction, and ap- 
pearing different to the mind, from the different con- 
struction of the organs of sense which conveys them or 
their impressions to the brain. 



MAGNETISM 35 

CHAPTER XII. 

MECHANICAL FORCE OR POWER. 

From our definition and what has been said, it will 
be perceived that magnetism is the primary cause of all 
motion in nature from the leaf that flutters in the breeze, 
the smallest insect that crawls, up the motion of not on- 
ly this earth, but of the heavenly bodies themselves. It 
not onty comprehends, and is the cause of all absolute 
mechanical force, or power, of chemical affinity, of the 
growth of all geological formations, of mathematical 
and all other sciences, but the cause of vegetable and 
animal life. What are the sources of all absolute me- 
chanical force or power ] To the superficial unthinking 
observer, at first thought, there would seem to be many, 
but on a moment's reflection they are simplified to two, 
attraction and repulsion. To speak from the simple 
principles for which we are contending, and in common 
language, our saw, grist, and other ordinary mills or ma- 
chinery, are propelled by water falling down hill or 
tending to the centre, the centripetal force (attraction). 
Whereas our steam mills, boats, and some other machin- 
ery, are propelled by a diametrically opposite and an- 
tagonizing principle, (repulsion), the centrifugal force, 
or tendency from the centre. Beside these two, there 
are no other sources of absolute mechanical force or 
power know T n, except wind power, and that from the 
elasticity of the spring. And how is wind power pro- 
duced, but by the agency and influence, of both thest , 
alternating with each other. 

The magnetic rays of the sun, are attracted or repel- 
led, or both, by that luminary, to the earth. Here meet- 
ing with, and uniting by attraction, with ponderable 
matter, repulsion succeeds, and water in the form of va- 
por, is thrown into atmospheric air, and forms clouds. 
One cloud or portion, becomes positively electrified or 
magnetized, and the other negatively, or one is char 






36 BAGG ON 

with one kind, and the other, with an other. By a law 
of the principle, within a certain sphere of influence, 
they attract each other, and come together, an equili- 
brium is formed, which changes the position of the mi- 
nute particles, it becomes more dense, in one part, and 
more rare in an other, light, or lightning is seen, thun- 
der is heard, attraction succeeds over repulsion in one 
part, and repulsion over attraction in an other, water in 
the form of rain is attracted to the earth, motion is pro- 
duced, a current of air is set in action, winds are there- 
by generated, which sometimes blow in one direction, 
and sometimes in another, which continue, until all the 
clouds are dissipated, or a perfect equilibrium in atmos- 
pheric air is produced, which is the cause of force or 
power from that source. In the elasticity of the spring, 
it will be readily seen, that both these forces, operate at 
the same time, one on one side predominates, and then 
the other. On the convex side, repulsion between the 
minute atoms predominates, while on the concave side, 
attraction prevails. Extra of these, there are no other 
sources of absolute mechanical power or force known, 
except from magnetism direct, as, the revolving wheels 
of Davenport and Cook, Brewster, Henry, and others. 
All other force from weights, as that of clocks, it will be 
readily seen, is resolvable in that of attraction, as well 
as that trom chemical compounds, as powder, air, and 
elastic fluids, into that of repulsion. It will thus be seen, 
that motion, which constitutes the elasticity of the spring, 
depends also upon these forces, alternating with each 
other. It can be explained on no other principle. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CHEMICAL AFFINITY. 

That chemical affinity, is dependent upon the same 



MAGNETISM. 37 

principle, there cam be no question. No two or more 
simple substances, unite and form a compound, without 
one be in a negative state, and the other in a positive. 
All substances in nature are mixed with two classes, al- 
kalies and acids. Between these two opposite classes 
there exists in their natural state, so powerful an attrac- 
tion, that when brought together, they unite and form 
an entire new compound, called a neutral salt, differing 
from either ingredients. It is found on examination, that 
alkalies are naturally in a negative state of electricity, 
and acids in a positive state, and that their union, is in 
consequence of their obeying the law of magnetism, that 
those of the same names, (chapter x) repel each other, 
and those of different names attract one an other. Sir 
Humphrey, demonstrated that electricity will not only 
suspend, counteract, and control chemical affinity, but 
that it was the most powerful agent for the decomposi- 
tion of chemical compounds or compound bodies, that 
were so powerfully united by attraction, that previously 
had never been decomposed, and therefore were believ- 
ed to be simple substances. It was by this agent that 
he succeeded in decomposing potash, soda, barieties 
strontites, magnesia, lime, and various other compound 
bodies. During these experiments he also succeeded in 
establishing the fact, that alkalies and earths, as well as 
oxygen gas, was in a negative state of electricity, and 
acids in a positive state. 

He found and demonstrated also, that when an alkali, 
was, by artificial means, put into the same state, (posi- 
tive) of electricity, as an acid, they would not unite by 
chemical affinity, but become repulsive of each other, 
and was therefore believed and considered by him, as 
the cause of chemical affinity itself, aud the rationale of 
their decomposition by that principle. He also found, 
that rendering by electricity, both of the same kind, (po- 
sitive,) in water, they would not unite, or dissolve in 
that element. The most delicate tests could not disco- 



38 BAGG ON 

ver in the water, the least particle of either. The cel- 
ebrated Dr. Lardner tells us in his lectures, that no good 
reason has ever been given for this, to wit: "That 
when natural bodies, are under the influence of electri- 
city, they behave themselves very differently from what 
they do in their sober senses. 5 ' He thus, tacitly ac- 
knowledges, that electricity at least, overacts, or con- 
trols, chemical affinity, aud we conceive it, magnetism, 
to be a good reason, why they will, and will not unite, 
the former depending on one's being positive, and the 
other negative, and the latter, both being positive, or 
both negative, agreeable to our law of attraction and re- 
pulsion. Is it not owing to craziness, or want of the so- 
ber senses of the teachers of phylosophy, themselves, 
instead of the " natural bodies ?" Are not all bodies in 
nature, simple and compound, naturally magnetized, or, 
at all times, in one state or the other, of electricity 1 If 
so, will it not sufficiently account for this -will, and 
, won't" principle of chemical affinity? If not, will they 
please to tell us in w T hat it consists? Whether a fluid, 
or an inherent principle of matter t If the former, why 
obedient to caloric, to light, to electricity, to magnet- 
ism ] If to the latter, why does it submit to be, like a 
scimeter of two edges, to be w r orked both ways by the 
magnetic fluids — composed and decomposed — finished, 
and undone — united, and separated? Should the Doc- 
tor chance to meet with our views, he will undoubte dly, 
have to pronounce one of two things, that matter is at 
all times out of their "sober senses," or that the mind 
that conceived that chemical affinity was dependent up- 
on magnetism solely, for its action w r as out of his. He 
is free to judge. The recent discoveries in taking min- 
iature likenesses by the daguerreotype, goes to corrobo- 
rate and establish the principle, that chemical affinity, 
depends upon electricity for its action and effect Light 
is the pencil by which it is accomplished, color is the ef- 
fect of attraction, and shade of repulsion. The outline, 



MAGNETISM. 

form, features, and expression, are repelled from the 
original, and attracted to the plate, where it stamps an 
image of itself. Light which is the magnetic tluid of it- 
self, produces the color, by inducing attraction among 
the minute particles of the iodine or what not, upon the 
plate, precisely in the same manner, that it commences 
chrystilization in solutions, by changing the ultimate at- 
oms, to the condition of attraction, (chap, ix) from their 
condition of equilibrium in the solution. If a solution of 
muriate of ammonia, and prussiate of potash, be placed 
in such a situation, as to let in a ray of light, at any par- 
ticular point, it will immediately commence to chrystal- 
ize, from that point, and no where else in the solution. 
This fact goes to prove, both the identity of light and 
magnetism, as well as to prove, that the latter is the 
cause of chemical affinity. The chrystilization of these 
salts, may be directed at pleasure, by the introduction 
of IJsfht to any one side of the vessel, or point, of the 
surface of the fluid. The same results may be obtained 
from a solution of camphor, it having a great attraction 
for light. If light will dispose one substance to chrys- 
talize it will others. The law is general. Light then is 
the great agent in the chrystalization of all substances 
in nature, as well as in solution. When a substance is 
chrvstalizin^ it also throws out li^ht, heat, and electrici- 
ty, which is the cause of its decreased temperature, and 
increase of the surrounding medium. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE EARTH'S FORMATION. 



Various theories of the formation of the earth, have 
been brought forward, most of which have had their 
day and generation, and like their authors, have been 



40 BAGG ON 

consigned to the tomb, and now sleep in oblivion. Of 
all that have been advanced, but two survive, the Plu- 
tonic and Neptunian. The advocates of the former, 
suppose heat to have not only been the cause of produc- 
tion, but of reproduction also. It also supposes a regu- 
lar alternation of decay and renovation, and that fire is 
the great universal solvent of nature. That decay is in- 
duced by light, air, and other gasses, rain and other wa- 
ters, upon rocks by which they are worn down, and that 
renovation depends upon an immense subterranean fire 
which operates to fuse, and melt and recombine the se- 
parated materials by sublimation and otherwise. 

The latter, the Neptunian, that two substances, oxy- 
gen and hydrogen, w r ere evolved out of chaos at the 
formation of the earth, in proportions, so as to produce 
water, which compound was in such quantity, as to hold 
in solution, all other materials necessary to the earth's 
formation. Of the materials held in solution, granite is 
supposed to have been formed first, and in great abund- 
ance, and that owing to its consolidation, it formed the 
neucleus, or foundation, of this globe, and that all other 
primary rocks so called were formed on the same hypo- 
thesis. It matters not which of these theories be true, 
or both, or neither, as we have already shown, that heat, 
fire, or what is called caloric, is nothing but magnetism 
in a state of repulsion, and a sensation upon the organs 
of sense, operating in a peculiar manner. If we take 
the latter, the Neptunian, we shall find, that that theo- 
ry is also based upon our principles. How could water 
be formed by the union of oxygen and hydrogen, but 
by our law of attraction ] How could rocks and other 
solid substances, such as the supposed neuck us of the 
earth, granite, be formed but by that peculiar arrange- 
ment of its particles, necessary to constitute a solid ? — 
In either case, no matter which was the solvent, or which 
preceded the other form, solid or liquid. If there had 
been a solution, there must of necessity have been an 



MAGNETISM. 41 

attraction, and a new arrangement of the particles, so 
as to have formed a solid, for chrystalization could not 
have taken place without it. Solution implies a liquid, 
and therefore there must have been a change. Nothing 
could have produced it, but the magnetic fluids. We 
have seen that light produces chrystalization. What 
are rocks but the chrystalization of matter] What form 
of matter is chrystalization but a solid. We have seen 
(chap, ix) that the minute atoms of matter under a par- 
ticular arrangement of its poles relative to each other, 
in a compound produced a solid. We showed also, that 
the law of the parts was the law of the w T hole. The 
solid parts of the whole earth, then, must be the result 
of that particular law of magnetism, upon ponderable 
matter, which produces attraction, and the solvents, 
whether fire, or oxygen and hydrogen, the effect of that 
law, termed repulsion, chrystalization shows, in the 
mean time, that nature has a geometry of her own, 
which performs her work w T ith the greatest precision, 
and that the great agent by which it is produced, is light, 
the magnetic fluids. The uniform, color, shape, and 
density of the various salts and rocks forming the globe, 
in such natural lines, speak volumes in confirmation of 
the fact. It appears then, that the compound substances 
forming the earth, are made from carbon, hydrogen, ox- 
ygen, nitrogen, and perhaps a few more elementary sub- 
stances, by an almost unlimited variety of arrangements 
of their ultimate atoms, with respect to each other, by 
the operations and agency of the magnetic fluids. — 
Whether the earth originally was a neucleus formed 
from the umbra of the sun, as some suppose, and was 
propelled into space by the union of the magnetic cen- 
tripetal and centrifugal forces, disposing it, like the stone 
from the sling, to fly oflf in a tangent in the form of a 
comet, and gradually cooled upon its surface, and wound 
up its tail, or train, by revolving upon its axis, from that 
continued impulse from these force?, which first gave it 



42 BAGG ON 

motion and direction from the sun, and as it cooled up- 
on its surface, formed a crust of granite, and condensed 
the vapor of its atmosphere into water, from hydrogen 
and oxygen, which so operated upon this granitic crust, 
as to oxydizc and disintegrate, a sufficient mineral mould 
or soil, to start to grow grasses first, and then other 
small shrubs, and then these again decaying, and under- 
going decomposition, and producing another class of ve- 
getable productions, and so on from class to class, rising 
in the scale by what is called "discreet degrees,'' until 
man was formed in an infantile state, from the decom- 
position and reorganization of the elements of the noble 
oak, black walnut, mahogany, or cedar of Lebanon, as 
well as the little insects, vermin, and creeping things, 
from other smaller grasses, and shrubbery, agreeable to 
a minute law of delicate correspondencies of each class 
of the vegetable producing its corresponding class, in the 
animal; or whether the Mosaic account be correct, "that 
the elements were created, and remained void, and with- 
out form, and that darkness was upon the whole face of 
the deep/' until God created the great magnet of the 
universe, the sun, and placed it in the heavens, and 
brought order out of chaos by the attractions and repul- 
sions from its influence, and by the same forces also, re- 
volved the whole, upon its axis from West to East eve- 
ry twenty-four hours, thus dividing the darkness from 
the light, the day from the night, and that man was cre- 
ated out of these elements, an adult or not, one thing is 
certain, that such is the influence of the sun upon all ' 
matter, (chap, ix) as to produce life, action, motion and 
order, and to divide by the influence of its light, all pon- 
derable matter into three varieties of form, two of which 
are perfectly antagonized, and the third between the 
7\ two extremes, or the point of equilibrium. That these 
constitute the mass of the earth which is divided into 
land, water, and air, and that they are constantly chan- 
ging from one form to the other, which change consti- 



MAGNETISE 43 

tutes its life. Philosophers as well as miners have for 
centuries observed, that the earth's crust is made up of 
alternate layers of different materials, such as rocks, 
soils, and other mineral substances ; that granite com- 
mences first on the series, or lies nearest the centre, and 
selenite last, or nearest the surface, with moulds or soils 
interspersed ; and that each of these layers have uni- 
formly, when examined, been found to be charged with 
electricity or magnetism ; that each alternate layer is 
charged with different kinds, one with positive and the 
other with negative, like the alternate plates of a gal- 
vanic battery, and that soils, when ever tested, have 
been found to be in the same alternate condition, and 
show the same magnetic results. We have seen (chap, 
ix.) that the ultimate atoms of all ponderable matter are 
magnets, had each a positive and negative magnetic pole, 
and obeyed the laws ot magnetism, to which it was in- 
debted for its action, motion, form, texture, nature and 
color. We also adverted to the general principle that 
similar causes produce similar effects, whether in sim- 
ples or compounds, and laid down another unchangable 
rule, that the law of the parts, was the law of the whole, 
and conversely, that the law of the whole, was the law 
of its parts. 

From what has been said, and in light of these prin- 
ciples, can we not clearly see, that all geological forma- 
tions, are owing to magnetism '] The earth then, com- 
posed of these myriads of little magnets, disposed into an 
almost infinite variety of simple, compound, and com- 
plex arrangements, composing strata of alternate mag- 
netic layers, up to the composition of the whole is a 
magnet/having a North and a South pole, or a positive 
and negative magnetic pole, and governed by the prin- 
ciple as a whole, in the same manner as its ultimate at- 
oms, 

It has a force from the centre to the circumference, 
(repulsion) and an antagonizing one, from circumference 



44 B-AGG ON 

to centre, (attraction). These forces both operate at 
the same time, but sometimes one predominates, and . 
sometimes the other, and sometimes they are equally 
balanced. When attraction predominates, the surface 
of the earth and the atmosphere is cold, as in winter,— 
When repulsion prevails, it is warm upon its surface as 
in summer. When they are equally balanced, (state of 
equilibrium) it is temperate, as in some parts of spring, 
and some parts of autumn. Although the first part of 
spring and the latter part of autumn from the change, 
participate more or less with both, the former with sum- 
mer, and the latter with winter, yet these general divi- 
sions are sufficient for our present purpose. These in- 
ward and outward currents create by their joint action, 
or impulse, a force at right angles between the two, 
which we shall for the sake of distinction term the re- 
sultant force. This is that force or current, which forms 
a line between the two, North and South, the extreme 
points of which are termed poles. 

The rays of light from the sun, upon their attraction 
and union with ponderable matter, so operate upon the 
whole earth, as to tend to move it upon its axis from 
West to East every twenty-four hours, which causes 
day and night. When these rays, fresh from the sun, 
first strike the earth, they are , positive, but by their un- 
ion with ponderable matter become negative, and after 
having traversed the earth they are repelled, by it, at- 
tracted by the sun, and return to be renewed, are again 
repelled by that luminary, and attracted to the earth. 
thus pulling or attracting it on one side, and pushing or 
repelling upon the other, which gives it its revolving 
motion upon its axis. This ceaseless change of attrac- 
tions upon one side, and repulsions on the other, will ac- 
count for the diurnal revolution of the earth, in the sim- 
plest, yet most satisfactory manner. 

The resultant force from the centre to the poles will 
also account for the annual revolution around the sun, 



MAGNETISM, *46 

in the same manner, which divides our year, as we hav* 
before seen, into summer and winter, spring and autumn. 
I Summer is produced by the attractions from the sun 
\ overbalancing its repulsions, and winter by the repul- 
' sions overbalancing its attractions. Spring and fall par- 
ticipate more or less with both as we have seen as above. 
These preponderating attractions and repulsions contin- 
ue each, for one half the year. In summer and spring 
the current towards the earth from the sun is strongest. 
In winter and fall the current is strongest towards the 
sun from the earth. It is also during the day strongest 
towards the earth, but during the night the current is 
strongest towards the sun. That these magnetic rays 
of light are attracted back, after having been absorbed 
and traversed the earth, we infer from the following con- 
siderations. If the sun is obscured by clouds, it becomes 
dark. The light that was upon the earth, has fled, van- 
ished, gone. 

As soon as the sun has set, as it is called, it begins to 
grow dark, and if clouds obstruct the light from the 
stars, and there is no moon, it becomes quite dark. — 
What has become of the light received from the sun du- 
ring the day 1 Where gone 1 If we then create artifi- 
cial lights by electricity or combustion with wood. coal, 
gas, lamps or candles, and suddenly extinguish them, it 
becomes dark. What has. become of the light ? We 
answer it is absorbed by all ponderable matter, by which, 
we are surrounded and wrtn which the earth is formed, 
traverses it in every direction, and then returns from 
whence it came, by the immutable law of the principle, 
of repulsions succeeding to attractions, or those of the 
same name repelling each other, and those of different 
names attracting one another. Were this not the fact 
the sun must have long since become impoverished, aim 
agreeable to the present theory of the books, the earth 
must have become a ball of fire, and withered and burnt 
every thing upon its surface. But the sun is not a ball 



46 BAGG ON 

of fire, but a vast magnet governing the whole planeta- 
ry or solar systems, by attraction and repulsion, through 
the agency or by the influence of the magnetic fluids. 
Springs and brooks are constantly flowing from the cen- 
tre to the surface, these are partly thrown by repulsion 
into atmospheric air, and there form clouds, attraction 
again succeeds over repulsion, and it again descends in 
the form of rain, sleet or snow, to fertalize the earth, a 
part of which is attracted or absorbed and flows again 
to the centre, while the remainder is again repelled into 
the atmosphere, or flows through streams, rivers or 
brooks into the ocean, or is decomposed by vegetables 
and animals, and enters into their composition, or inor- 
ganized matter and forms limestone, salts, earths, acids, 
alkalies or other mineral substances, and thus this cease- 
less roundrof attraction and repulsion, contraction and 
expansion, composition and decomposition, and recom- 
bination through and by the agency of the magnetic 
principle is the cause of all geological formations. If 
the earth were not a magnet, how could the ocean be 
traversed by artificial magnetic guides 1 

How could the earth's equator, its poles, the latitude 
and longitude of any place or point on land, or vessel at 
sea be determined % In what manner, and by what ex- 
pedient, could continents, nations, kingdoms, states and 
even farms be bounded, marked, lined, registered and 
preserved, by contract, deed, mortgage or otherwise ? 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE SCIENCE OF NUMBERS, 



In the days of Pythagorus, that ancient but eminent 
philosopher, compared the existence of matter to the 
science of numbers, represented by arithmetical figures. 
So precise was he, that he even separated unity from 



rUAGNETI.-M. 47 

one. --One says he. appertains to things that can be 
numbered and may be compared to matter rendered vi- 
sible by arithmetical figures under a particular form. 
while unity is an abstract conception resembling prima- 
ry or incorporeal matter in its general aggregate. Num- 
ber is not infinite any more than matter, but neverthe- 
less it is the source of that divisibility into equal parts 
Which is the property of all bodies." By numbers then. 
matte* is divided into almost an infinitude of equal parts. 
The method of reducing them to theii elements, is by 
analysis, and the rule by which it is governed is called 
subtraction. The method of aggregating or collecting 
them in mass, is by synthesis, and the rule by which it 
is governed is called addition. These two rules then, 
addition and subtraction form the general and fundamen- 
tal rules, on which is based the whole science of num- 
bers. Multiplication and division are but shorter meth- 
ods of performing these operations, and are therefore 
secondary in their effect. All other operations and rules 
are based upon these two fundamental ones. Synth 
and analysis then, are but other terms for composition 
and decomposition, and these again but others denoting 
the particular form or manner by which they are pro- 
duced, attraction and repulsion. Philosophically speak- 
ing, what is addition but the natural attraction of the re- 
presentatives of the particles of elementary matter, to 
form a mass, compound, or aggregate ; and subtraction 
but the separation or repulsion of the signs of the par- 
ticles of the same from each other, in aggregation or 
masses to reduce them to their elements or unity ° 

Numbers Vere not any more used as types, signs, or 
representatives of our mathematical ideas, for elemen- 
tary matter by this profound philosopher, in his day, 
than they are at the present. All our best modern che- 
mists make use of, and teach them, in our best coHej 
of instruction. Sir Humphrey Davy, the great Newten 
of that science, taught to his las the ele^ 



18 BAGG ON 

ments of all compounds are in certain definite propor- 
tions to each other, which ratios may be expressed by 
numbers, and are at this moment, taught in our text 
books on chemistry. The revival of this theory was 
probably owing to Dalton, in his well known and estab- 
lished doctrine of atoms. No matter, whether determin- 
ed by measure or weight, by quantity or by the numer- 
ical proportions and ratios of elements, or ultimate at- 
oms relative to each other in the compound, the gener- 
al principle is the same. It is a science expressing the 
elements of matter, and computing their aggregation, 
quantities, as well as qualities, by numbers, which is go- 
verned by two fundamental rules, addition and subtrac- 
tion. These numbers are but signs, standing for the mi- 
nute particles, or ultimate atoms themselves, and stand 
the same relation to each other in compounds, that ideas 
do to each other in the compound or formation of mind. 
Both governed by the same law, addition and subtrac- 
tion, attraction and repulsion. Both showing the same 
antagonizing principle in each, the one being but the 
perfect correspondence of the other, which we shall 
show more particularly when we come to analize the 
mind, and reduce it to its elements. So also with alge- 
bra, or that branch of mathematics, in which the quan- 
tities are represented by letters, and their operations by 
signs. Although thus represented, the general principle 
is the same, and performed in the same manner, by these 
two fundamental rules — the base of all mathematical sci- 
ence, plus and minus, but other terms for addition and 
subtraction. It was probably, from the observance of 
this principle in connection with this science, that lead 
the celebrated Dr. Franklin to adopt the one fluid prin- 
ciple, in his theory of electricity ; thereby making the 
law of attraction and repulsion to depend upon the ex- 
cess or diminution of one fluid, in ponderable matter, in- 
stead of two. It will then be conceded, for we shall 
take it for granted, that all compounds are formed by 



MAGNETISM. 49 

simples, in definite proportions of their elements to each 
other, and will show a few examples which may be ta- 
ken as an illustration, for all compound bodies. It is 
well known that the rusts or oxides of iron and other 
metals, consist or is made up of a certain quantity or 
portion of oxygen, with a certain quantity or portion of 
metal. It is also well known, that many if not all the 
metals are capable of two or more degrees of oxydation, 
and are generally distinguished by different colors; like 
the black and red oxides of iron, the white and red ox- 
ides of lead, which are all equally oxides of the two same 
metals, and differ only in the proportions of the oxygen 
in the compound. Now in whatever proportion it unites 
in, to form an oxide of one kind, it invariably unites by 
a multiple or divisor, (addition and subtraction,) of the 
same proportion to produce every other kind of oxide, 
belonging to the same metal. It has been discovered 
that antimony has four different points of oxydation. — 
The lowest contains four and a half parts of oxygen, to 
one hundred of metal. The second, eighteen parts of 
oxygen, to one hundred of metal, which is four times 
four and a half. The third, twenty seven parts to one 
hundred of metal, which is six times four and a half. — 
The fourth contains thirty six parts oxygen, to the same 
quantity, which is eight times four and a half. Tin has 
three different degrees of oxydation. It has for its low- 
est proportion, seven parts oxygen, to one hundred of 
metal. For its second fourteen, and for its highest point 
twenty one parts oxygen to one hundred of metal. Iron 
has but two oxides, the one black, the other red. The 
first contains twenty parts oxygen, to sixty nine parts 
of metal, and the last, thirty parts to the same quantity. 
These metals and their union with oxygen, may be 
taken as so many diagrams, to explain all other com- 
pound bodies. They not only unite like these and form 
compounds in definite proportions, but cannot be made 
to unite in any other, or in any intermediate degrees 






50 BAGG 0\ T 

between. This law of definite proportions and light as 
the agent, accounts for, or is the key to the whole hith- 
erto mysterious science of chrystalography, and gives 
us the cue to the cause why all salts assume a shape pe- 
culiar to each class. When we find these oxides, salts 
or chrystals, we know them to be of uniform strength, 
as agreeable to the atomic law of definite proportions in 
compounds, they cannot be made to vary. Showing at 
such a point we have in the same elements attractions, 
and at another repulsions, and yet at an other point still 
higher attractions again, and new compounds entirely 
different in their natures and action, such as sugar, starch 
and vinegar, all from the same ingredients but different 
in proportions. So also with calomel, corrosive subli- 
mate, and red precipitate. This law of definite propor- 
tions runs through all nature ; through solids, liquids 
and gasses, as well in the animal, as vegetable and mi- 
neral kingdoms. Not only in these but in the formation 
of mind, friendships, social circles, societies, parties, 
clubs and juntos. It will also be seen that color depends 
upon it. The only reason why the black oxide of iron 
was changed to red, is the addition of ten more parts of 
oxygen in the compound. " Hence, these proportions 
though constantly true to their respective series, are di- 
versified in different substances, their radical figures or 
numbers may be, and now are, actually employed, and 
that very generally. They are in perfect coincidence 
with the system of Pythagorus as the synonims of the 
simple forms of substances whose progressive they de- 
scribe. This curious coincidence of ancient and mod- 
ern philosophy may be regarded as a marvellous proof 
of the truth of the atomic theory. And it is not the 
least important of this discovery, that not only in the 
union of simples, as well as in their separation also, this 
very theory is applicable and proves true, but in all well 
known and more complicated compounds, so far as the 
experimental series have been carried, the elementary 



MAGNETISM- 51 

bodies which enter into them, exhibit proportions equal- 
ly definite and invariable." 

Thus affording another proof of close connection be- 
tween the phenomena of nature, and the occasional de- 
velopments of revelation, the philosopher beholding now, 
as did the prophet of old, that the Almighty Architect < 
has literally adjusted every thing by weight and meas- 
ure ; that he has measured the waters and meted out 
the heavens, accurately comprehending the dust of the 
earth, weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in 
a balance." 



CHAPTER XVL 

GEOMETRICAL SCIENCE. 

The science which has for its object the measurement 
of magnitudes, consists in finding the sum or difference 
between the extremes of the antagonizing angles, vary- 
ing from the equilibrium of a right angle. The antago- 
nizing extremes are called acute and obtuse angles. — 
The tools or machinery are straight and curved lines. 
The calculation of aggregation or diminution in the re- 
duction to right angles, is performed like all other math- 
ematical operations by the rules of addition and subtrac- 
tion — plus and minus, attraction and repulsion. The 
whole science is based upon equality and difference, and 
therefore as far as regards principles is in the above nut- 
shell. A perpendicular line drawn so as to stand upon 
a horizontal one, and cut it at right-angles in the science 
of geometry, is as much a point of equilibrium between 
the extremes of the machinery of the circumference and 
centre of the science, as the equator is to the poles o\ 
the earth, the middle of a compass needle, or a neutral 
salt between an acid and an alkali. All right angle- 
are equal to one another, therefore there is no differ- 
6 



52 BAGG ON 

ence. An acute and obtuse angle in due proportion, are 
equivalent to a right angle. All geometric lines are ei- 
ther straight or curved. Magnetism moves in straight 
lines or curves. Attraction or repulsion is performed in 
straight lines. Both united and operating upon each 
other mutually, produce a curve. The union of the two 
forces at all times tend to form a sphere or circle. 

If we load a cannon with powder and ball, and over- 
balance the attractive force of the powder by communi- 
cating to it magnetism in a state of repulsion, or what 
is called caloric, the repulsive force will project the bail 
into space, seemingly in a straight line, but the attract- 
ive force operating upon the ball at the same time, it ap- 
proaches and lodges upon the earth. Here, when the 
powder was in a state of attraction, the ball was at rest, 
but by adding magnetism in a state of repulsion, in ail 
artificial manner, the repulsive force predominated for 
a time, but attraction again overbalanced the repulsive 
force, and it fell to the ground. Had there been no an- 
tagonizing force to repulsion, and had the ball met with 
no resistance, it would have continued in a straight line 
on a line drawn parallel with eternity. But although 
these forces are antagonized, yet their immutable law is, 
■ for first one to predominate and then the other, as ex- 
emplified in this instance. The ball then, from their 
united forces described the segment of a circle, like all 
other bodies operated upon by these united forces. It 
is these same forces which dispose solid subs tances to 
crystalize in different forms in nature upon the surface 
and in the centre of the earth, into spheres, cubes and ' 
so forth, with geometric precision. From the present 
state of the science of chemistry, the imperfect knowl- 
edge w r e have of the atomic theory of definite propor- 
tions, of crystalography, with the novelty of our doc- 
trine and the unsettled state of the public mind upon ge- 
neral principles, from the vast and rapid improvements 
in every branch of science and art, at this time, we are 



MAGNETI&Rfc 58 

somewhat after all, like the aged prisoner released from 
the bastile — in darkness, though surrounded by an ex- 
cess of light. But fi§>m the fact of the evolution of light 
during crystalization, of its disposing effects to com- 
1-mence crystalization in compounds, as well as to break 
J\ them down and decompose them, can we not reasona- 
bly infer that light is the great agent by which all forms, 
figures, colors ancl textures in magnitudes are produced ( 
The great variety in nature, which are as numerous 
as the various figures from the successive throws of the 
calidascope, is undoubtedly owing to some peculiarity in 
the primary molecule, in the particular class of crys- 
tals. Can we not. at least imagine that from some yet 
unknown law, from the primary molecule, connected 
with the known law T of light, (the angle of reflection 
equal to the angle of incidence) that light, the magnetic 
fluids, is the cause of all geometric lines, and that the 
present science is but art attempting to imitate nature I 
Do we not clearly see that the lines, angles, extremes 
and point of equilibrium in the science, in comparison, 
as well as the laws by w T hich it is governed, and rules 
by which it performed, correspond with the rules, laws 
and operation of the same lines, angles, extremes and 
centres in ponderable matter from the operation of the 
magnetic fluids ? The former performed by addition and 
subtraction, and the latter by attraction and repulsion I 
Both philosophic synonyms; the one appertaining to mat- 
ter, the other to mind, which is but the correspondence 
of the internal w T ith the external, and therefore is but 
art mimicinor nature. Crystallization is one of the most 
beautiful and grand results of the operations of nature, 
and when understood, will reveal to us wonders hither- 
to inconceivable. 

jNature here divests herself of all mystery, throws oil 
the complicated mantle of intricacy, and undisguised, 
presents herself as she really is, and leads and assists us 
to learn her by the light of her own natural science — 






54 BAGG ON 



geometry. Will it not then delight genius to follow her 
in her devious paths, behold her wonders, and treasure 
up her knowledge in the great stdTe-house of intellect % 
Let the wise and reflecting judge. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE GRAMMAR. 

It has been shown that magnetism is governed by the 
law of attraction and repulsion, that either move in 
straight lines, but when both operate together they pro- 
duce in matter, a circle, curve or sphere. This law is 
general and regards all motions, or effects, in either the 
animal, vegetable or mineral kingdoms, and is as appli- 
cable to the operations of mind, as matter. In the very 
elements of language, the signs of our ideas, which form 
the chain of correspondence between spirit and matter, 
the medium of connection between the internal and ex- 
ternal, we find this characteristic operation of the mag- 
netic fluids ; and no matter whether the operation be 
upon organized or inorganized matter, their effect is the 
same. The signs of ideas in every written or printed 
language are formed by direct straight lines, curves or 
circles, and whether the impulse from the volition of 
man, be carried to the paper or plate through the extre- 
mity of the fingers, to make the impression, or by the 
type or pen, the effect is the same. All signs of our ideas 
then, printed or written, mathematical, chemical or me- 
chanical, conform to the same results, and are govern- 
ed by the same law that governs matter, and correspond 
with it. The combined effect of the magnetic forces in 
matter, as we have seen, is to produce a sphere or cir- 
cle, therefore, the same cause that enables a man to make 
a cypher, the letter o, or make a tub, forms a globe, or 
generates a world. The archetypes or symbols of things 



MAGNETISM. 55 

which form language, then, are produced by these for- 
ces. When formed they are divided into two classes, 
antagonized to each other, like the poles of the magnet. 
Orthography teaches two kinds of letters in the forma- 
tion of words, vowels and consonants, which, when uni- 
ted (attracted together) form syllables, syllables form 
words, words sentences, and sentences discourses, which 
form books. No word can be formed with one class, 
no more than a compass needle can be made to traverse 
with one pole — a tune in music without a variation of 
sound—a galvanic battery to operate with one plate, or 
a bird to fly with one wing — it would be like attempting 
to propel a steamboat with all cold, or all hot water, or 
anticipating a splendid speech from an individual per- 
fectly and universally palsied throughout one half the 
body, or making all the signs of our ideas of straight lines 
or circles. No word can possibly be formed from all 
vowels or all consonants. It requires both to make them, 
as much so as it does both magnetic forces, to form an 
egg or grow T an apple. Syllables then, are compounds 
of letters — the antagonizing signs of ideas, and in words 
are philosophically governed by the law of attraction 
and repulsion. For example in spelling and pronounc- 
ing the word di-vis-i-bil-i-ty, as well as all others, the 
sound is divided into distinctions of time, forming a mar- 
ked contrast between the commencement of one and ter- 
mination of another. In this point of distinction the vow- 
el is positive and the consonant negative ; both repel 
those of their kind, or name, but attract each other, 
as to produce an effect, and make sense; wiiereas the 
former cannot be made to make a word, or sense. No 
word can be made exlusively of all one, or the other, 
but require both. Thus oo bb means nothing, spelis no- 
thing, are nothing, but two o's and two b's ; but if we 
put them together they naturally attract, make sense 
and spell, and are pronounced ob and bo. So also of the 
whole of both classes. In pronouncing, the sound m al- 
0* 



56 BAGG ON 

so not only antagonized, but the very organ of the me- 
chanism of the articulate sound also. The sound of the 
consonant, is made or perfected from within outward, 
and the vowel from without inward. The machine has 
two antagonizing extremese of locality, of commence- 
ment and termination, of sound, as well as two others 
of manner. The two former the mouth and throat, the 
latter is characterised (as in music) by crascendo and 
diminuendo. A syllable then is a compound of the inte- 
grant particles of mind, attracted together so as to form 
a word. A word is a compound of syllables attracted 
together to form parts of a sentence. A sentence is 
composed of words, and are attracted together to form 
discourse. Discourses form books. These discourses 
are compounds of the elements of mind or ideas under a 
variety of combinations of letters forming them, precise- 
ly like the combinations of the various simple substan- 
ces of matter, of which they treat, represent, or are the 
correspondences of, attracted together by the same prin- 
ciple and governed by the same law. Every law that 
governs the operations of matter is applicable to that 
language which expresses the operations of that matter, 
for the latter is but the representative of the former. — 
The theory of Dalton is as applicable to the ultimate at- 
oms or elements of language, (letters) as it is to the ul- 
timate atoms of matter. They will not unite but in cer- 
tain definite proportions or combinations, to form sense,, 
and are multiples, or divisors of each other, and cannot 
be united according to rule (agreeable to orthography,) 
in any other manner. 

In the second part of grammar this principle is also 
apparent. The main constituents of a sentence are the 
noun and verb, opposite in nature as the poles, yet to 
make sense and be grammatical, they must agree with 
each other in number and person. The one the name 
of something that exists, the other to be, to do, or to 
suffer from, or for what does exist. Yet these diamet- 



MAGNETISM. 57 

rically opposite parts of speech to make good language, 
and pass the ordeal of scrutiny, must be attracted to- 
gether and agree with each other in number and per- 
son. Number comprehends one or more ; if one it is 
called singular; if more than one, plural. Here we find 
our principle of attraction in the plural, and repulsion in 
the singular; but other terms lor unity and aggregation; 
showing like matter, composition and decomposition, and 
governed by the same law. Person also is antagonized 
from the same principle — spoken to, and of. In case, 
we find the same principle ; nominative, possessive and 
objective. The two, extremes, and the other the line 
between the two. The one active, the other passive, 
and the third the equilibrium point. We observe two 
kinds of conjunctions, conjunction attractors, or connect- 
ors of the sense, and conjunctions repellers or contrast- 
ed of the sense. Prepositions are antagonized to each 
other, as above-below, over-beneath, up-down, to-from, 
by-of. over-under, before-behind, ofi-on, within-without, 
Adverbs are also modifiers, or contractors, as once-twice, 
first-secondly, here-there, anywhere-nowhere, upward- 
downward, to-day-to-morrow, soon-never, wisely-fool- 
ishly. Verbs are active, passive and neuter, showing 
the two extremes, and the neutral point between the two. 
Even the moods of verbs, as well as tenses, are antago- 
nized. The imperative with the potential, as he mav 
go, go thou; the indicative within itself, as he loves, he 
is loved. In philosophy, there are but three distinct 
moods of verb? ; the imperative, go tJiou; potential, hi 
. go; indicative, he ?oes — between the extremes of 
the two others. The subjunctive and infinitive are but 
modifications of the indicative, between which the line 
of demarcation is not to us apparent. So also there are 
properly but three tenses ; past, present and future. — 
Here we have the extremes and the equilibrium point of 
time — the present. The other parts of speech, and some 
of the above, are but so many substitutes, modifiers, con- 



V 






58 BAGG ON 

trastors, qualifiers and definers to sustain the substantive 
and verb, and when examined by our magnetic test, 
show the same principle running through the whole. — < 
But we are not writing a philosophic grammar, but show r - 
ing the universality of the magnetic principle, and that 
ail sciences and arts are based upon it, and governed by 
the same law that governs the matter, which is the sub- 
ject of those sciences and arts. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

LOGIC. 

If we examine into the art of reasoning, or logic, we 
shall find the same general principle running through that 
also, or that the filtration of truth from error is produ- 
ced or performed, by comparing extremes of both, and 
reducing them to an equilibrium as a test to discover one 
from the other. " There are three operations of the 
mind connected or concerned in argument. Simple ap- 
prehension, judgment, and discourse or reasoning. Sim- 
ple apprehension is the notion or conception of any ob- 
ject in the mind, analogous to the perception of the sen- 
ses. It is either incomplex or complex. Incomplex ap- 
prehension is of one object, or of several, without any 
relation being perceived between them; as of <a man/ 
1 a horse/ ' cards/ Complex is of several, with such a 
relation, as of ' a man on horseback/ ' a pack of cards. 7 
Judgment is the comparing together in the mind, two of 
the notions (ideas) which are the objects of apprehen- 
sion, whether complex or incomplex, and pronouncing 
that they agree or disagree with each other, or that one 
of them belongs or does not belong to the other. Judg- 
ment is therefore either affirmative or negative. Rea- 
soning, or discourse, is the art of proceeding from one 
judgment to another, founded upon that one, or the re- 



MAGNETISM. 59 

suit of it. Language affords the signs by which these 
operations of the mind are expressed, and communica- 
ted. An act of apprehension expressed in language, is 
called a term; an act of judgment, a proposition; an act 
or reasoning, an argument ; which when regularly ex- 
pressed is a syllogism, as e. g. Every dispensation of 
Providence is beneficial ; 

Afflictions are dispensations of Providence, 

Therefore they are beneficial, 
is a syllogism ; the act of reasoning being indicated by 
the word ' therefore.' It consists of three propositions 
each of which has (necessarily) two terms, 'as benefi- 
cial' 'dispensations of Providence,' &c. A syllogism be- 
ing as aforesaid, resolvable into three propositions, and 
each proposition containing two terms, of these terms 
that which is spoken of is called the subject, that which 
is said of it, the predicate ; and these tw T o are called the 
terms, (or extremes) because logically, the subject is 
placed first, and the predicate last; and in the middle the 
copula, w T hich indicates the act of judgment, as by it the 
predicate is affirmed or denied of the subject. The co- 
pula must be either is, or is not, the substantive verb be- 
ing the only verb recognized by logic, all others are re- 
solvable by the verb to be and a participle or adjective; 
e. g. ' the Romans conquered ;' the word conquered is 
both copula and predicate, being equivalent to 'were' 
(cap.) 'victorious' (pred.). A term may consist of one 
word, or more." A proposition then in logic is compo- 
sed of two extremes and a copula or middle term, with 
w r hich these extremes are composed, and by which re- 
sult the inference or truth of a given question or subject 
is discovered and noted." Although somewhat mecha- 
nical, it is natural in its operation, and in comparison per- 
fectly analogous to a compass needle in its mechanical 
operation, and correspondence. The needle has its two 
extremes ; a positive pole, and a negative one. So has 



60 BAGG ON 

a proposition in logic. It has its two extremes and a 
middle term with which each of them is separately com- 
pared, to judge of their agreement or disagreement (at- 
traction or repulsion) with each other. If the middle 
term agrees with the first it is affirmed of the question 
or subject; if with the third it is denied. Now what is 
this agreement but attraction, and disagreement but re- 
pulsion, philosophically speaking. Is not the truth then 
entirely dependent for its discovery on attraction 1 and 
error on repulsion ? Does not the whole mechanism of 
a proposition in the effort to arrive at truth or error de- 
pend entirely on attraction or repulsion of the middle 
term or copula with the first 1. Does not the copula stand 
the same relation to the extremes of a proposition, that 
the equator of the earth, or a compass needle does to 
their extremes, or poles 1 The extremes of one are ter- 
med positive and negative ; in the other affirmative and 
negative. Is there philosophically any difference in the 
meaning, nature, or name of these extremes ? Do they 
not all hold the same relation to their extremes one with 
an other t Is there any difference 1 The effect and de- 
tail of both are the same, and governed by the same 
law. A proposition then is a sentence which affirms or 
denies a thing, principle or subject. It is therefore like 
the compass needle positive and negative. With regard 
to matter it is true or false, (positive or negative). It 
is also universal or particular (singular or plural — addi- 
tion and subtraction — simple and compound). "With 
any given subject and predicate you may state four dis- 
tinct propositions A, E, I, O, any two of which are said 
to be opposed. Hence there are four different kinds of 
opposition ; contradictories, contraries, sub-contraries 
and subalterns, 1 ' recorded in the books, the machinery 
of which is complicated, hard to be understood, seldom 
used, and never should be, as they are not true in fact, 
and are but the mere scintillations of ideality, and con- 
fusing to the student. The whole of logic in its simpli- 



MAGNETISM. Til 

city, consists in an antagonistic principle of two extremes, 
varied like the compositions and decompositions of mat- 
ter. There is but one kind of opposition, and that stands 
opposed and diametrically antagonized to attraction — 
repulsion ; and this law is the governing principle of the 
art, under its different names and appearances. Syllo- 
gisms like propositions are made up of three terms or 
two extremes, and a middle term which is twice sepa- 
rately compared with the extremes. Of these the sub- 
ject of the conclusion is called the minor term ; its pre- 
dicate, the major term ; and third the middle term. — 
This comparison with the extremes is to judge of its 
agreement or disagreement with each other. If they 

■ee, it is affirmed, if they disagree, it is denied of the 
subject, which is shown by the conclusion. Who can- 
not see that the machinery of a syllogism to elicit or dis- 
cover truth is precisely analogous to the magnet orcom- 

;s needle ? both depending on the agreement or disa- 
greement, attraction or repulsion ?" It is made up al 
of three propositions and but three ; the major premiss 
in which the major term is compared with the middle ; 
the minor premiss in which the minor term is compared 
with the middle ; and third the conslusion, in which the 
minor term is compared with the major.' 7 A proposition 
then in logic stands the same relation to a syllogism, that 
,i simple apprehension does to a proposition. The con- 
clusions of both, are arrived at on comparison as above 
determining on the agreement or disagreement of the ex- 
tremes, or poles with the middle term. In the first it is 
comparison between simples, in the second between com- 
pounds, and in their various operations, stand the same re- 
lation to each other, that an elementary particle of matter 
doesto the most complicated compound. The atomic the- 
ory of definite proportions is as applicable to these appre- 
hensions, in their formations into discourses or com- 
pounds of judgment, as to matter. The discover] 
truth then, is the result of attraction, and error of rep w I- 






62 BAGG ON 

sion. In other words truth attracts, or agrees with truth 7 
but repels error ; whereas error or falsehood repels 
truth, and disagrees with itself, and is therefore at all 
times and under all circumstances universally repulsive. 
But there is another mode or manner of reasoning at 
the present day, which is more in general use, because 
more simple, and better understood, and less liable on 
that account to mislead. It is that of induction — the lo- 
gic of common sense which consists in establishing a 
proposition, subject or position, by a collection of facts 
from the evidence of the senses. 

The God of nature has given us five, and probably six 
senses, (the sense of temperature as distinguished from 
touch) to test a subject or principle, which senses are so 
many evidences to the mind of the truth or falsehood of 
a proposition, and following up nature in the light of 
these senses, five well established facts, one from each 
sense, is at all times sufficient to establish the truth, If 
they agree it is affirmed of the proposition, if they disa- 
gree it is denied, as thus ; some fluid or principle caus- 
es vegetables to grow. They will not grow naturally 
in our climate in winter, but will, in summer. Summer 
is caused or produced by such a relative position, and 
action between the sun and earth, that more light is pro- 
duced upon the earth than in winter. Light then makes 
vegetables grow. But it has been found from observa- 
tion and experience, that what is called caloric is neces- 
sary for the growth of vegetables, for in summer there 
is more heat than in winter, as well as light. From ex- 
periment it has been found that electricity and galvan- 
ism will grow vegetables, rapidly. Oxygen and hydro-' 
gen gasses are necessary to the germination of seeds, 
and the growth of vegetables ; moisture is an indispen- 
sable requisite in the germination of seeds and growth 
of plants. Electricity is light, and light is galvanism, 
and galvanism is oxygen with hydrogen gas, and these 
are caloric, and caloric is magnetism in a state of repul- 



MAGNETISM. (53 

sion. Therefore magnetism in a state of repulsion is the 
cause of the growth of all vegetables. These are facte 
from observation, experience and experiment, agreeing 
with each other, as touching one effect — the growth of 
vegetation, which concludes the subject, or proposition, 
and establishes the fact, from the decision of judgment, 
that they all agree in producing the same effect, and 
that similar effects are produced by similar causes, and 
therefore that they are identical, one and the same prin- 
ciple — magnetism. 

Agaiti we are lead to examine an individual, and ob- 
serve that he is cold and shrivelled, that he cannot see, 
hear, touch, taste or smell, that his puise does not beat, 
nor his lungs heave, that he is destitute of motion, and 
thought ; comparison at once contrasts these facts with 
those known to constitute life, and judgment instanter 
decides that he is dead. The conclusion here is arrived 
at, by the disagreement of the symptoms or facts with 
those of life, and judgment pronounces accordingly. — 
Again, if we observe that an individual is warm, that 
his pulse beats, that he has respiration, as well as mo- 
tion, but that he cannot hear, see, touch, taste or smell, 
except through the senses of another, after deliberation 
and reflection from these facts, judgment decides that 
one hall' agree with those of life, and the other half with 
those of death, and is therefore in a dilemma. To ex- 
tricate itself causality seeks for new ones to prove one 
or the other. It then further discovers, that altho 
the natural senses are dumb, cataleps'd or palsied, yet 
the mind, by the fact, is exalted far above its nar 
state, so much so, that time, space, distance. mr._ 
tude, texture, &c, are annihilated, or a new sense 
the concentration of all these into one, is instituted, 
that the individual cannot only read at the top of the 
head, pit of the stomach, tips of the fingers, but can 
through an opake solid, as well as gas or liquid, can Iook 
to the moon, and scale heaven itself. After reflection 
7 



64 BAGG ON 

has labored in vain to find an agreement with either con- 
dition, life or death, judgment decides that it is a state 
hitherto unknown, an entire new condition of man upon 
earth, aud impels causality and comparison to further 
investigate the subject. This new condition is produced 
by animal magnetism, and is one of the subjects to be 
examined in the sequel. 

Can we not then see that the whole art of reasoning, 
whether by syllogism or induction, is based upon the 
natural attraction or repulsion of the facts, or evidence 
together or from one another, for or against it ? That 
in the latter or common sense system of proofs, by ob- 
servation, experience, and what not, if a sufficient num- 
ber agree, it is affirmed, or proved, if they disagree it is 
denied ; thus showing the antagonistic principle in lo- 
gic, as well as every other science, or principle in na- 
ture. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

VEGETABLE LIFE. 

That the germination of seeds, and growth of veget- 
ables, are owing to the magnetic fluids, admits of no 
doubt. 

Plants or trees will not grow in winter without arti- 
ficial heat and light, neither will they thrive, keep heal- 
thy, and come to maturity in the dark with heat alone. 
A certain or due quantity of both, then, are necessary 
for the cultivation and growth of all vegetables, of dif- 
ferent classes in nature. Such is the relative situation 
of the earth with respect to the sun in spring, that a 
greater quantity of light or magnetism beams upon, or 
is attracted to the earth, where being absorbed by im- 
ponderable matter, attraction and repulsion recommen- 
ces with increased energy, and the seeds of the new, as 



MAGNETISM. 65 

well as the roots of the old, begin to grow and shoot 
forth up and down, laterally and around, or between 
the extremes of the two. If the season be favorable, 
and proper care be taken to cultivate them, some come 
to maturity in one season, some in part of a season or 
summer, while others take longer, varying from these 
to a century for their perfection. " The seed or egg 
of a plant is sometimes naked, and sometimes covered 
with a pericarp, from whence plants are divided into 
two grand arrangements, of gymnospermous and angi- 
ospermous. The pericarp is of various forms and struc- 
tures. On taking off the pericarp we find the seed to 
consist internally of a corculum or heartlet, and external- 
ly, of a fleshy, or parenchymatous substance, surround- 
ed with a double integument, sometimes single, some- 
times bifid, and sometimes more than bifid, and hence 
denominated monocotyledonous, dicotyledonous, polyco- 
tyledonous. In common language these are called seed- 
leaves or seed-lobes. It was formerly supposed by some, 
that there was some orders of plants destitute of cotyl- 
edons, but it is now believed to be universal, as it seems 
to be necessary for the germination and i'uture growth 
of the seed, and hence has been denominated its lungs 
or placentule. Like the perfect plant it possesses lym- 
phatics and air vessels. Through the former it ab- 
sorbs moisture from the soil in which it is plunged, de- 
composes a part of it into its elementary principles, and 
conducts those principles, together with the undecom- 
posed water, to the corcle or heartlet, which becomes 
stimulated to the process of germination, by the oxygen 
thus set at liberty. According to experiments detailed 
at the National Institute (London) by Mr. Mirble, the 
soil and albumen in the cotyledon are both concerned in 
the development of the germ, and both contribute con- 
jointly, till the albumen is entirely absorbed, at which 
time the plant has strength to derive from the soil or at- 
mosphere the nourishment it requires from this period. 



60 BAGG ON 

It is the corcle which is the true punctum saliens of ve- 
getable life says Dr. Good, and to this the cotyledon is 
subservient The corcle consists of two parts, an as- 
cending and a descending ; the former is called its plu- 
mule which gives birth to the trunk and branches, the 
latter named its rostel which gives birth to its root and 
radicles. The position of the corcle in the seed, is al- 
ways in the vicinity of the hilum or eye, which is a cic- 
atrix or umbilicus remaining after separation of the fu- 
nis or umbilical cord from the pericarp, to which the 
seed has hereby been attached. The first radical or 
germinating branch of the rostel uniformly elongates, 
and pushes into the earth, before the plumule evinces 
any change. Like the cotyledon, the radicles consist 
chiefly of lymphatics and air vessels, which serve to se- 
parate the water from the soil, in order that the oxygen 
may be separated from the water. Hence originates 
the root the most important part of the plant, and which 
in some sense may be regarded as the plant itself ; for 
if the root remain uninjured, if any other part of the 
plant be destroyed, this organ will regenerate and the 
whole plant be renewed; but if the root perish, the plant 
becomes irrevocably lost, yet there are various pheno- 
mena in vegetable life that manifest a smaller difference 
in the nature of the root and the trunk, than we should 
at first be disposed to suppose ; for there are several 
species. 

Willoughby observed more than a century ago, that 
in several species and especially the prunus and salix, 
cherry and willow tribes, if the stem branches be bent 
down to the earth, plunged into it, and continued in this 
situation for a few months, these branches will throw 
forth radicles, and if, after this, the original root be dug 
up, and suffered to ascend into the air, so that the whole 
plant becomes completely inverted, the original root will 
throw forth stem-branches and bear the wild fruit pecu- 
liar to its tribe. The solid parts of the trunk consists of 



MAGNETISM. C7 

cortex, cuticle, or outer bark; liber, cutis, or inner bark: 
alburnum, or soft wood ; lignum, or hard wood ; and 
medulla or pith. The pith was supposed to correspond 
to the spinal marrow of animals; at any rate it seems to 
be an admirable reservoir for moisture, arid of the great- 
est importance to young plants that are more or less 
destitute of leaves, to preserve them from drought. Its 
surface is covered with air cells and lymphatics. This 
pith as the plant grows older and acquires leaves is of 
less necessity, becomes obliterated by the surrounding 
lignum which grows in concentric circles, and the trunk 
enlarges by the formation of a new liber or inner bark 
every year. The whole of the liber of one year, except- 
ing indeed its outermost layer, which is transformed in- 
to cortex, becoming the alburnum ot the next, and the 
alburnum becoming the lignum. Such is the common 
theory of the growth of plants, and it seems to be well 
supported by observation and experiment/' The age of 
a tree may be known by counting its concentric layers 
or circles ; one circle for each and every year. Inde- 
pendantly of these more solid parts of the trunk or stem, 
we generally meet with some portions of parenchyma 
or cellular membrane, and always with the different sys- 
tems of vegetable vessels disposed in common and uni- 
form arrangement. The lower order of plants, indeed 
such as the annuals, and biennials, consist almost exclu- 
sively of parenchyma or cellular substance, with an in- 
ner and outer bark and the respective vessels of the ve- 
getable systefa. These vessels are adducent and redu- 
cent, or arteries and veins. Many of these may be seen 
by the naked eye, and especially the sap vessels ; and 
the vascular structure of the whole has been sufficient- 
ly proved by Gessner by the means of the air pump. — 
The reducent or returning vessels are stated by Sir EL 
Smith, to bring back the elaborated sap from the leave- 
to the liber ior the new layer of the existing year. The 
lymphatics lie immediately under the cuticle and in the 



68 



BAGG ON 



cuticle* They anastomose in different ways through 
their minute intermediate branches, and by surrounding 
the aperture of the cuticle, perform the alternating econ- 
omy of inhalation and exhalation. Their direction varies 
in different species of plants, but is always uniform in the 
same species. Immediately below these, lie the addu- 
cent vessels or arteries, they are the largest of all the 
vegetable vessels, arise immediately from the root, and 
communicate nutriment in a perpendicular direction, and 
when the stem of a plant is cut horizontally they instant- 
ly appear in circles. Interior to these lie the reducent 
vessels or veins, which are softer, more numerous, and 
more minute than the arteries ; and in young shoots run 
down through the cellular texture and the pith. Be- 
tween the arteries and veins, are situated the air vessels, 
as they were formerly called ; but which Dr. Darwin 
and Mr. Knight have sufficiently proved to contain, not 
air in their natural state, but sap. They seem to be the 
genuine lacteals issuing from the root, as in animals, 
they issue from the villous coating of the intestinal ca- 
nal. They are delicate membraneous tubes, stretching 
in a spiral direction, the folds being sometimes close to 
each other, and something more distant, but generally 
growing thicker towards the root, and especially in lig- 
neous plants. These vessels are very minute, and ac- 
cording to numerous observations of Hedwigmade with 
the microscope, seldom exceed a 290th part of a line or 
a 3000th part of an inch in diameter. The lymphatics 
of a plant may be often seen with great ease, by mere- 
ly stripping off the cuticle with a delicate hand, and then 
subjecting them to the microscope, and in the course of 
the examination, we are also frequently able to trace the 
existence of a great multitude of valves, by the action 
of which, the apparatus of the lymphatics are common- 
ly found closed. Whether the other systems of vegeta- 
ble vessels possess the same mechanism, we have not 
been able to determine decisively. The following ex- 



MAGNETISM. 

iment, however, should induce us to conclude that 
they do. If we take the stem of a common balsamine. 
(or of various other plants.) and cut it horizontally at its 
lower end, and plunge it so cut into a decoction of Bra- 
zil wood, or any other colored fluid, we shall perceive 
that the arteries or adducent vessels, as also the lacteals 
will become filled or injected by an absorption of the 
colored liquor ; but that the veins, or reducent vessels. 
will not become filled, of course evincing an obstacle in 
this direction to the ascent of the colored fluid. But if 
w T e invert the stem, and in like manner cut horizontally 
the extremity which till now was uppermost, and plunge 
it so cut into the same fluid, we shall then perceive that 
the veins will become injected or suffer the fluid to as- 
cend, and that the arteries will not ; proving clearly the 
same kind of obstacle in the course of the arteries in 
this direction, which was proved to exist in the veins in 
the opposite direction ; and w^hich reverse obstacles we 
can scarcely ascribe to any other cause than the exist- 
ence of valves. By this double set of vessels, moreo- 
ver, possessed of an opposite power, and acting in an 
opposite direction, the one to convey the sap or vegeta- 
ble blood forwards, and the other to bring it backwards. 
we are able very sufficiently to establish the phenome- 
non of a circulatory system ; and according to several 
of the experiments of Wildenow, it seems probable that 
this circulatory system is maintained by the projectile 
force of a regular and alternate contraction and dilata- 
tion of the vegetable vessels. But their great minute* 

3S must ever render it extremely difficult to obtain 
anything like absolute certainty upon the subfect." — 
Thus then, from the anatomy and physiology of plants, 
we discover that they have two sets of vessels through- 
out their whole systems like animals, antagonized to 
each other. The adducents and reducents, the absorb- 
ents and secernents, the veins and arteries, or the at- 
tracted and repellers. one set to absorb nourishm 



7d BAGG ON 

from the earth and carry it to every part, and another 
set to return it again, another set to absorb from the 
surface and carry it to the centre, and another set to 
carry it from the centre to the surface ; showing like 
every other system in nature, that they have a centre 
and circumference ; that there is constantly a force go- 
ing from one to the other, both operating at the same 
time, but that sometimes one predominates, and some* 
times the other, that, that force which operates from the 
circumference to the centre is attraction, and that from 
the centre to the circumference repulsion, and that from 
the joint action of these antagonized to each other, the 
plant thrives, grows, and comes to maturity ,or are inter- 
rupted or broke up in their action, and the vegetable dies 
and goes to decomposition. 

It will also be seen and remembered that the corcle is 
the true punctum saliens of vegetable life, and that it 
consists of two parts, an ascending part, and a descend- 
ing part. The ascending is called its plumule, and its 
descending, its rostel. The plumule gives birth to the 
trunk and branches ; the rostel to the root and radicles. 
4 The radicle like the cotyledon is possessed of lymphatics 
and air vessels, and the first action to be discovered is 
the decomposition of water by this function or organ, 
the oxygen and hydrogen gases are separated from 
each other, the two electricities are set at liberty, the 
play of affinities and repulsions commence, the radicle 
is attracted to the earth and elongates into its bosom, 
its stomach, and the plumule is repelled by the root and 
attracted by the sun to elongate and grow into atmos- 
pheric air. This then, is the commencement of the 
growth of all plants in nature, and the manner and pro- 
cess by which they commence life. We have seen also 
that the development of the germ, is a mutual effect from 
the joint action, or sympathy or attraction between the 
albumen of the cotyledon and the soil, until the former 
is entirely absorbed. This absorption by the soil is at- 



MAGNETISM. 71 

tra ction, and all attractions arc succeeded by repulsions. 
in nature, at all times and under all circumstances. — 
Vegetables then, commence their growth by the attrac- 
tion between certain constituents of the seed, with a 
certain principle of the soil as above, audits life and an- 
imation commences and is carried on by the two antag- 
onizing forces of magnetism or electricity. These air 
cells, lymphatics, vessels and all, correspond very mate- 
rially with the organs and systems of animals, and burst 
into life in the same manner, or by the same necessary 
primordial process, of first attraction and then repulsion. 
These vessels carry and return the sap to every part of 
the plant which constitutes its nutrition. The sap then 
stands the same relation to the plant, that the blood does 
to animals. Its growth from the sap or blood, is produ- 
ced by the action of its organs in the same manner. — 
The plant is a system of cognate systems, a grand sys- 
tem of centres and circumferences, united and forming 
one compound system of centres and circumferences, 
into one plaat of one centre and circumference. In the 
round of circulation, each organ or part, attracts what 
is necessary for its use, and parts with some of its own, 
and thereby, and by this system of attraction and repul- 
sion, selects from the general stock a material for its own 
use and sustenance, and contributes to the maintenance 
of the whole. 

This sap or blood is composed differently in different 
classes of plants. In some the bitter principle prevails, 
while in others the saccharine is predominant. In some 
a redundancy of acid prevails ; in others alkali. These 
are a few of the most prominent classes, but their vari- 
ety is as extensive as their orders and species. These 
plants, having as proved by Hales, perspiratory vessels. 
secrete upon their skin or surface, different substanc 
as sugar, acid, gums and resins. He proved that dome 
vegetables perspire an immense quantity. " It was de- 
termined by this philosopher, by experiment, that a sun- 



72 BAGG ON 

flower weighing only three pounds throws off by that 
cutaneous emunctory, twenty-two ounces of perspirable 
matter in twenty-four hours ; whereas Keil by a very 
accurate set of experiments ascertained, that in his own 
person, he perspired in the same time, but thirty-one 
ounces." Keillate and drank four pounds and ten oun- 
ces in the twenty-four hours, seventeen times more nour- 
ishment was taken in by the roots of the sunflower than 
was taken in by the man, which shows the enormous ex- 
penditure of plants, and that they require a larger quan- 
tity of nourishment than animals. 

Various have been the conjectures and numerous the 
theories in reference to the circulation of the blood or 
fluids in vegetables. Grew ascribed the assent of the 
sap to its levity ; as though acting with the force of a 
vapor ; Malpighi, to an alternate contraction and dilita- 
tion of the air contained in what he erroneously con- 
ceived to be air vessels; Perault to fermentation; Hales 
and Tournefort, to capillary attraction not one of 
which theories however, as Dr. Thompson has ably es- 
tablished, will explain the fact better than another ; and 
himself is as wide of the mark perhaps as either the oth- 
ers, as he has also a probability of a contractile power 
in the various vessels distributed so wonderfully over 
the vegetable frame, that a contractile power may exist 
independently of muscular fibres, we have abundant 
proofs even in the animal system itself. We see it in 
the human cutis or skin, which though totally destitute 
of such fibres, is almost forever contracting or relaxing 
upon the application of a variety of other powers; pow- 
ers external and internal, and totally different in their 
mode of operation. Thus, austere preparations and se- 
vere degrees of cold, contract it very sensibly; heat, on 
the contrary, and oleaginous preparations as sensibly re- 
lax it. The passions of the mind exercises a still more 
powerful effect over it, for while it becomes corrugated 
by fear and horror, it is smoothed and lubricated by plea,- 



MAGNETISM. 7r* 

sure, and violently agitated and convulsed by rage or an- 
ger. 

Yet, could it be proved even, that the vessels of plants 
are incapable of being made to contract by any power 
whatever, still should we have no great difficulty in con- 
ceiving a circulatory system in animals or vegetables 
without any cause, while we reflect that one half of the 
circulation of blood in man himself is accomplished with- 
out any such contrivance ; and this too the more diffi- 
cult half, since the veins through the greater extent of 
their course, have to oppose the attraction of gravitation 
instead of being able to take advantage of it. It is in the 
present day however, a w r ell known fact and has been 
sufficiently ascertained by the late Dr. Parry, of Bath, 
and on the continent by Prof. Dollinger that the con- 
tractile power of the muscular fibres is not called into 
action even by the arteries in the course of the ordina- 
ry circulation of the blood. Since, as we shall have oc- 
casion to observe, no increase of size or change of bulk 
of any kind takes place in arteries, either in the contrac- 
tion or dilatation of the heart's ventricles in a state of 
health, unless they are pressed upon by the finger, or 
some other cause of resistance." "In what part of the 
plant the vital principle chiefly exists, or to what part it 
retires during winter, we know not, but we are just as 
ignorant in respect to animal life ; in both it operates to- 
wards every point. It consists in the whole, and resides 
in the w r hole, says Dr. Good, at the commencement of 
the eighteenth century, one of the best writers of Eu- 
rope. Had he lived te become acquainted with the fact 
of the identity of the imponderables, he would have been 
at no loss to account for the phenomena. The vital 
principle does not retire to any particular locality in win- 
ter ; it is only attraction predominating over repulsion, 
whereas in summer repulsion predominates. The tree 
does not die in winter, but like the bear or dormouse 
comparatively sleeps by the above preponderance of at- 



74 BAGG ON 

traction over repulsion. The same cause that produces 
the cold of winter, the cold fit of fever and ague, is the 
cause of the quiescence of the plumule or trunk of a tree 
(attraction) and the cause of heat in summer, the hot fit 
of fever and ague is the cause of the [activity and growth 
of the plumule in summer (repulsion). Both forces op- 
erate at the same time, yet one predominates over the 
other in summer, the other in winter. Hence these for- 
ces are the cause of all formations, animal, vegetable, 
and mineral, their joint action as we have seen is to pro- 
duce a circle, a ring, a tube, a globe, a world. 

In proof of this we cite the rotary magnetic wheel of 
Davenport, Cook and others ; the ball shot from the 
cannon, the spherical form of rain, shot, globules of mer- 
cury, the ultimate atoms of the earth, and the earth as 
a whole, to be in this form, and we might add the eggs 
of all o viperous, as w T ell as the young of all other ani- 
mals, to participate of this form, as well as all plants, 
flowers, leaves and seeds. 

The anatomy of vegetables shows that they have an- 
tagonizing vessels like animals, to carry the sap or blood 
to the extremities and to return it again ; (veins and ar- 
teries,) and the force or impulse and nourishment, is heat, 
light and moisture. The first commencement of germi- 
nation is an attraction of the albumen of the seed with 
the water of the soil, and that agreeable to the immuta- 
ble law of magnetism, that repulsion succeeds to attrac- 
tion, and that this principle of action and reaction, bas- 
ed upon this principle, was the cause of the growth of 
all vegetables as well as animals. Were it owing to any 
other principle but light and heat, (and by these agents, 
the decomposition of matter,) vegetation would flourish 
and come to maturity in winter as well as summer. — 
But vegetation in our climate without artificial light and 
heat, cannot be made to grow in winter. Thus then, 
plants are made up of centres and circumferences, with 
vessels going to, and coming from, every minute part 



MAGNETISM. 



through which the sap is circulated by the force or im- 
pulse from the magnetic fluids. These centripetal and 
centrifugal forces, produce, agreeable to the laws of mag- 
netism, which we have seen to be the cause of all me- 
chanical power, a resultant force in a perpendicular di- 
rection from the centre both ways, like the current to- 
wards the poles, or that from the stomach of animals to- 
wards the extremities, which elongates the plumule in 
one direction into atmospheric air, above the surface, 
and the radicle m another, into the besom of the earth. 
These forces also increase its bulk laterally, as may be 
seen in the onion, and concentric circles of the tree. — ' 
They also send off shoots wdiich start off in tangents be- 
t w e en these horizontal and perpendisylar forces, term- 
ed branches. It is admitted on all hands, published in 
our best botanical works, and taught in our schools, that, 
plants, shrubs, trees raid all, absorb oxygen during the 
Right and repel it during the day, and absorb carbonic 
acid during the day, and repel it during the night ; thus 
showing, that they are the qj g and secreting so- 

laces, and so far as the material or principle is concern- 
ed must be produced by these forces, by the law of 
traction and repulsion. 

Xone will deny the necessity of moisture for th 
mination of seeds and growth of trees and plants ; ex- 
perience has long since settled that question. Moisture 
is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen gases, compound 
substances'of oxygen, hydrogen, and the two different 
kinds of light or electricity, and the manner they con- 
tribute to the nourishment of the plant is by the decom- 
position of their elements, and a liberation of the 'dec- 
trie fluids in their passage through these vessels, which 
constitute their life ; for that consists in motion produ- 
ced by this principle. But in another light, il earboni< 
acid" is absorbed during the day and repelled during the 
night.'' This substance is composed of oxygen and <'ar- 
bon, and bv the experiments of M. Puolett/is shown i« 
8 



BAGG ON 



be positive, or in a different electrical or magnetic state 
from oxygen gas. It is also said that light unites withv j 
the oxygen in vegetables during the day, which causes \l 
it to fly off in gas, and is attracted back in the night, A 
thus alternating or taking turns with carbonic acid in I 
its attractions and repulsions. However this may be, it 
is clear that either fiom the plant, or the light of day, 
contrasted with night, or both, that the plant like the 
lungs of animals, and the earth, as we have before seen, 
so operates as to change the light or magnetism from 
the sun, from a positive to a negative state, and that from 
the law of the principle, as soon as the equilibrium takes 
place in the vegetable with these forces, repulsion takes 
place, and its opposite, the carbonic acid is attracted, 
an equilibrium again takes place between the plant and 
the electricity or magnetism of this compound, and that, 
from the same law is repelled, and oxygen is attracted, 
and thus these motions, actions and effects, from these 
alternations of attractions and repulsions, governed by 
the rule as before mentioned, of first one prepondera- 
ting and then the other, is the cause of the germination ' 
and growth of the vegetable kingdom. Plants like ani- 
mals, seem to rest or sleep during the night and awake 
in the morning to meet the smiling beams of his rising 
Majesty with attraction. Many of them like the morn- 
ing-glory, open and expand on the absorption of light, 
and contract to rest during the night in its absence. — 
Light renders them healthy, gives them color, and makes 
them thrifty. Many blossom and come to maturity soon, 
in a few weeks ; others require a season, or summer, 
while others require two, others three, (annual, bienni- 
al, &c.) while others like a hoary headed veteran, take a 
century like the flowering aloe, to grow, blossom, come 
to maturity, death and decay. In conclusion, we will 
observe that the tender saplings, twigs and leaves, like 
iron filings upon the repulsive pole of a magnet, stand- 
ing out in all directions like radii from the centre, are 



MAGNETISE* 77 

all thrown off and stand in every direction (except down,) 
but in winter by the antagonizing force of attraction 
overbalancing repulsion, the leaves fall off. it ceases to 
grow, the sap current is attracted towards the earth till 
spring, when the stimulating beams of the sun again cau- 
ses the repulsions to overbalance like the balance beam 
of a pair of scales, the attractions, and it again shoots 
forth into atmospheric air and grows, and comes to ma- 
turitv. Ladies and those who are in the habit of rear- 
ing house plants for health, ornament, and the cultiva- 
tion of the science of botany will bear witness to the at- 
traction of plants for light, for the sun. Unless they are 
frequently changed in position, they grow crooked, ug- 
ly and ill formed. From what we have seen, is not the 
irresistable conclusion of the mind, that the magnetic prin- 
ciple or fluids is the cause of vegetable life 1 Is there 
any principle except a self equalizing one that could bring 
from the germ, a plant to maturity 1 What other self 
equalizing imponderable agent can be found in nature, 
but light, caloric, magnetism and electricity'? Have we 
not clearly demonstrated these to be one, identical, to 
be magnetism ? Magnetism then, is the cause of veget- 
able life. 






PART SECOND 



CHAPTER I. 

ANIMAL LIFE. 

We have said that animal life was the result of the ac- 
tion of the magnetic fluids. In order to prove it, we 
choose man as the animal best fitted for our purpose. — 
The anatomy and physiology of his system, and the for- 
mation of his mind, are not only of the greatest import- 
ance, but best understood. The mind and body are so 
intimately connected and united that when one is diseas- 
ed and disturbed the other is affected also. A living and 
dead man differ by the former having heat, thought, 
sensation and motion, while the latter is destitute of all 
these characteristics. Life then, consists in heat, thought, 
sensation and motion. That agent that produces these, 
is the cause of life. Man then, thus animated is endow- 
ed with an aptitude or susceptibility of being so opera- 
ted upon by external objects, and internal agents, as to 
produce heat, thought, sensation and motion. When an 
object produces this but once, it is termed an impression; 
but when it is frequently repeated and associated with 
other impressions, we are said to accustom ourselves t< 
them, and when these have been continued for a suffi- 
cient length of time to give laws to the system it is ter- 
med habit. Habit therefore is only the result of custom, 
and stands the same relation to it, that custom does to 
impressions, and all stand the same to conduct and char- 
acter, that letters, syllables and words do to senten< 
The circle of these associated habits form, the com . 
3* 



80 BAGG ON 

of the individual, and this conduct,, character, which 
forms, makes and marks the man. Whenever an im- 
pression is made upon the system, it is either pleasant 
or uneasy, pleasurable or painful. This feeling is term- 
ed sensation. Thoughts are either good or bad, virtu- 
ous or vicious. Motions are either upward or down- 
ward, to or from, east or west, north or south, or be- 
tween the two, which in each and all, show them to be 
antagonized. If in sensation the impression be agreea- 
bly we will to receive, and repeat it; if painful, we de- 
sire to dislodge, shun it, and cease to have it again pro- 
duced. The former is from without inward, and the 
latter from within outward. The former constitutes the 
centripetal force ; the latter the centrifugal; the former 
is performed by attraction, the latter by repulsion ; ei- 
ther of which produces motion. This motion which is 
the effect of will, is termed volition. Volition therefore 
is the effect of sensation, and is antagonized in itself, as 
we have before seen. Sensation commences in the cir- 
cumference or extremities, and terminates in the centre. 
Volition on the contrary commences in the centre and 
terminates in the circumference or extremities. Sensa- 
tion and volition are not only antagonized in themselves, 
by two extremes, but antagonized to each other also. 
All our original ideas, education and knowledge, are the 
effect of sensation, and are obtained by attraction. All 
our efforts and display of conduct from our education 
and knowledge, are produced by volition, and the effect 
of repulsion. After having received from sensation our 
original ideas, volition recombines them and by the union 
of the two, forms compound and complex ideas. This 
is termed reflection. From these two centripetal and 
centrifugal forces, arise not only the operations of mind 
and body, but the phenomena of life itself. The cause 
of these are the magnetic fluids, which we shall endeav- 
or to show from his anatomy and physiology, as well as 
by comparison with the vegetable world, and the earth 



iVIAGNETISM. 81 

itself. These forces both constantly act, not only on 
every minute part, but upon the whole system at the 
same time. Sometimes they are equal to one another 
in force, and sometimes one predominates over the oth- 
er. When their force is equal in the system to one an- 
other, they may be said to be in a state of equilibrium. 
When the centripetal predominates over the centrifugal 
to any great extent, the system is languid, oppressed, 
cold, and the mind impotent and thoughtless. When the 
centrifugal predominates to any considerable extent in 
the system, the person becomes thoughtful, hot, and 
strong. Good health consists in their being equally bal- 
anced, or when they are in a state of equilibrium. U! 
health on the contrary when they are in either extreme, 
or when one overbalances the other, and continues for 
any considerable time. Direct debility is the result of 
the predominancy of the centripetal force over the cen- 
trifugal, and indirect debility from that of the centrifu- 
gal over the centripetal. Life is called a forced state of 
stence, for unless we eat, or drink, or both, or take 
nourishment we die. What we take for nourishment 
produces excitement ; this excitement is the sum oi mo- 
tions, or actions of the vessels from these forces. The 
manner in which it is produced is by attraction and re- 
pulsion on the decomposition of the force and the action 
between its elements, and the elements of the system. 
thereby setting into motion the magnetic fluids'. Al- 
though the food of man is different, and is presented in 
a variety of forms, solid, liquid, and aeriform, yet it may 
be reduced, to generally but fonr elementary principles, 
carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen; the three for- 
mer compose the most, or greatest share by far, the el- 
ements of the food of man. The human system then. 
may be called a large circle, made up and composed of 
an almost innumerable number of smaller circles. Eve- 
ry circle is composed of a centre and circumference, and 
but one. These smaller circles then, have each a cen- 



82 



BAGG ON 



tre and circumference of their own, distinct in one sense, 
but alike in another, receiving from the general system 
a material for its own use, benefit and support, but yet 
in its turn contributing to the support and benefit of the 
whole. They are so arranged in the system by the an- 
imal economy, by their situation and action, that they 
form a scale of degrees, rising one above another in a 
continuous line from the alimentary canal up to the brain 
and nerves. They are as different in their texture, struc- 
ture, form, and mechanism, as they differ in their action 
and number, but yet so connected and influenced by all, 
and one another, as to contribute by their harmonious 
action, to the general support of the whole. There are , 
in the body no two alike, (except its antagonist on either 
side) yet the action of the whole individually, or collec- 
tively, is performed by the same means, the same prin- 
ciple. 

The action of each, like that of the whole, is perform- 
ed by two forces, both acting at the same time, and, as 
before observed, of the whole system in the same man- 
ner, and vary from an equilibrium to two extremes, and 
vice versa. The first circle on which the food com- 
mences to operate, as well as be operated upon, is the 
alimentary canal, and from this to the brain in the fol- 
lowing order : Alimentary canal, obsorbent circle, pul- 
monary circle, general arterial and venous circle, capil- 
lary circle, membraneous and lymphatic circle, glandular 
circle, portal circle, pancreatic circle, spleenic circle, and 
last and not least, the nervous circle. We commenced 
in the order in which the the food was received and 
propelled, or attracted throughout the system, but find 
it difficult, as from the simultaneous action of all from 
the moment the food passes into the general circulation, 
to follow it through all its successive circles ; but enough 
have been mentioned to give an idea of this complicated 
system of heterogeneous organs, of circles made up of 
centres and circumferences. The centre of the alimen- 



MAGNETISM. 83 

tary canal is the stomach ; of the obsorbent system, the 
thoracic duct; of the pulmonary system, the right heart: 
of the general circulation, the left heart ; and to pass 
over the remainder, which will be sufficient for our 
present purpose, the centre of the nervous system is 
the brain. The food then received in at the mouth, and 
in its passage, operated upon by all these organs, as well 
as operating upon them in such a manner as to be de- 
composed, recombined and refined through all this con- 
catenated chain of circles, until it arrives at the brain, 
where it is so sublimated and exalted as to be made 
capable for the operations of mind. 



CHAPTER II. 

ANATOMY AXD PHYSIOLOGY. 

The anatomy and physiology of man both go to show 
that life is produced and continued by the operation of 
the magnetic fluids. Anatomy demonstrates that man, 
so far as his organs of sensation and voluntary motion 
are concerned, at least, is made double. We therefore 
find that he has a right and left side, and in one sense, 
two brains, (two hemispheres,) two ears, two mouths. 
two eyes, two noses, two arms, two legs, and two sets 
of muscles and nerves, one on either side, as well as 
two sets of arteries and veins, as well as absorbents, 
lymphatics, secernents, glands, membranes, &a &c. &c 
In addition to this double arrangement, we next remark 
that each and every organ of the body, even to the 
heart itself, has a vessel conveying red blood to every 
part of it, and another, commencing at the terminations 
of these minute branches, taking it up again and carry- 
ing it back to the general mass, leaving in the organ 
what by attraction it required for its use, and parting 
with some of its own in return. This organ, we per- 



84 BAGG ON 

ceive, has another set of vessels, of a less size, car- 
rying a different kind pf fluid, separated from the 
red blood by the membranes and glands called lymph, 
and another set to carry back to the general mass what 
is not needed for use. If we commence at the centre, 
at the righ heart, or ventricle, we find the pulmonary 
artery terminates in minute ramification too minute for 
the naked eye to discover, and where these minute 
arteries terminate, equally minute veins commence^ to 
carry tne blood back to the heait. The blood being 
changed in the lungs, and attracted back to the heart, 
the latter being in a negative state and the heart in a 
positive, the moment the blood comes in contact w 7 ith it, 
an equilibrium takes place between them, they both 
become positive, and the heart immediately contracts 
again upon, and repels it to every part of the system, 
to every minute part of the circumference, to the capil- 
lary circle, which is a system between the extremes of 
the arteries and commencement of the veins, where it 
is again absorbed by the veins, and returned to the right 
auricle, from thence to the right ventricle, where it is 
again repelled to the lungs through the pulmonary artery 
as before, and so on. A short distance from the heart, 
in its passage back, it receives the chyle or food, in a 
milky form and color, both of which are mingled to- 
gether, and are attracted to the right auricle, repelled 
to the right ventricle, an equilibrium again takes place, 
the ventricle again contracts and repels the blood through 
the pulmonary artery to the lungs, where it is again 
renewed and altered, it is again absorbed by the pulmo- 
nary veins and returned to the heart. The circulation 
then, of the blood, is performed through two sets of 
vessels, antagonized to each — the arteries and veins. 
The former, the tubes or vessels of repulsion; the latter, 
those of attraction. The former the medium of cen- 
trifugal force, the latter, the centripetal. Thus then, 
the anatomy and physiology of the circulation of the 



MAGNETISM. 85 

blood shows that it is performed by two forces antago- 
nized to each other, through two kinds of vessels, also 
antagonized to each other. In addition to the veins and 
arteries, we remark another set of vessels, also antago- 
nized in their action, diametrically to each other : the 
absorbents and secernents : The former are probably 
conterminations of the veins, and the latter of the arte- 
ries ; and bear the same relation to each other that the 
arteries and veins do to one another. They accompany 
every part of the frame, and being thus extensive, form 
no inconsiderable part of the system itself. They arc; 
also divided into l ymphatic s and lacteals, from the par- 
ticular fluids they convey. The secernents separate 
and throw 7 out a fine lymph from the surface of all 
membranes to keep them lubricated, and the absorbents 
to attract and take up the superabundance, or remains 
of w T hat is left. The nice balance and harmony between 
the action of these, as well as the arteries and veins, 
constitute good health. Disease, therefore, is a want 
of this equilibrium between them. If the secernents 
act with too much energy and violence, while the ab- 
sorbents are too inactive, congestions, dropsies and 
swellings, or enlargements ensue. If the absorbents 
act, on the contrary, too powerfully, and the secernents 
are torpid, a wasting and reverse takes place. If both 
act at once with an increased energy, to a certain ex- 
tent, inflamations are the result. Thus then, the pro- 
cess of nutrition and assimulation, as well as the general 
health of the system, the former of which constitutes 
no inconsiderable part or portion of the animal economy 
of human life, are produced, continued and kept up by 
the action of two sets or classes of vessels, antagonized 
to each other, the health of which depends upon a due 
balance or relative action between them, or what we 
have termed an equilibrium ; which equilibrium or 
equality of forces depends upon the magnetic fluids. 
All the organs of the body have absorbent and secre- 



' 



80 BAGG ON 

ting faculties, are assimulating organs, or are capable 
of separating from the blood its own nourishment, and 
converting it into its own nature, for its own use, and 
also in addition of secreting a material different from 
its own, for the subsistence of the general system, as 
well as what is noxious to itself and whole system. 
These vessels and organs may, relatively to each other, 
be classed and called attractors and repellers, corres- 
ponding with the centripetal and centrifugal forces be- 
fore mentioned, and by which they w r ere originally in 
the chick or ovum produced. Of the former, are the 
stomach, liver, spleen, pancreas, lungs and brain., each 
of which secrete a material, besides that for its own 
use, a matter absolutely necessary for the general sys- 
tem — as the gastric juice, the bile, the pancreatic fluid, 
the nervous fluid, and the oxygen of the the lungs. 
There are various other organs of a smaller kind and 
lesser import and simpler texture, which perform the 
same double office, and secrete materials of a much, 
more local use, or are repelled from the system as nox- 
ious, such as the kidneys, the intestinal tube, the minute 
perspiratory follicles of the skin, the organ that sepa- 
rates the saliva, ad mucus that lubricates the mouth and 
nostrils ; and those that elaborate the tears, the wax of 
the inner ear and the fat. The organs that perform 
this double offic£ rt of secretion, or attraction and repul- 
sion, are called secretory glands, and they are distin- 
guished into different sets, as salivary, mucuos, lachry- 
mose, conglobate, glomerate and conglomerate ; all of 
which operate upon, and are operated on by the same 
means or agents, the magnetic fluids, by attraction and 
reoulsion. 



MAGNETISM. 87 

CHAPTER III. 
THE DIGESTIVE CIRCLE. 

If we examine the digestive circle more particularly, 
in common language called the alimentary canal, we 
shall find that it is performed or produced by the same 
agent, in the same manner, by the same means, and on 
the same general principles. The stomach, which is 
placed in the centre of this circle, is also the centre of 
attraction and repulsion. The food, after being masti- 
cated in the mouth, and mixed with the saliva, is attract- 
ed to the stomach. There, after having been operated 
on by the gastric and other juices, and decomposed in 
part, is repelled from that organ towards the extremity 
of the alimentary canal. In its passage, the lacteals 
attract the nutritious portion, and the residue or resi- 
dium passes on, and is repelled from the body. In its 
process, progress, and passage, every thing is perform- 
ed by these forces. The process of mastication is per* 
formed by two sets of muscles, antagonized to each 
other, the flexors and extensors of the jaws, the adduct- 
ors or abductors, the mechanism of which is contrac- 
tion and expansion (attraction and repulsion) of that 
function or organ ; the flow of saliva by attraction, and 
swallowing by the antagonizing operation of the muscles 
of the throat, under the operation of the will from the 
brain through the medium of the nerves. It is next 
partly decomposed by the electric battery of the stom- 
ach and gastric juice, passes through the intestines by 
the resultant force or currents of the magnetic fluids 
from the equally contributing centripetal and centrifugal 
forces, or what in the books is termed the peristaiti 
action of the bowels, by contraction or expansion of 
alternating portions of the omentum, the lactals attract 
drink up, and carry the nutritious part of the food to 
the centre of that circle, the thoracic duct, from whence 
it is repelled and attracted to the vena cava, mingles 
9 



c 



88 BAGG ON 

with the venous blood, is attracted to the right auricle, 
repelled and attracted by the right ventricle, repelled 
through and attracted by the pulmonary artery to the 
lungs, is repelled from the circumference of that circle, 
is attracted back to the left auricle, into the left ventricle, 
and is repelled all over the system, and is again, after 
undergoing as many changes as there are different or- 
gans, returned by the veins, as we have before seen, 
(chap. ixix.). But to be still more explicit, the blood 
having been repelled to every minute branch or ramifi- 
cation of the arteries, terminates in that reservoir called 
the capiliary circle, and the mucous follicles of the 
skin, where the veins, absorbents, or attractors com- 
mence ; here another separation or secretion takes place, 
a portion of which is repelled from the system in the 
form of perspiration and carbonic acid, and the other 
attracts oxygen gas from the atmosphere, and is in part 
assimulated, and the remainder attracted back -through 
the veins fo the right auricle, a short distance from which 
it is renew r ed by another augmentation of electricity or 
magnetism, in the form of chyle, from the thoracic ducta- 
ls again sent to the lungs, attracts oxygen, and repels 
and expels its carbonic acid in proportion to the oxygen 
received, and thus, by this ceaseless .round of .circles, 
from centres to circumference, to and from, every part 
of the whole system giving out its magnetic fluids through- 
out the whole extent, sometimes in a state of attraction, 
at others in a state of repulsion, the two forming an equi- 
librium, and varying again from it as soon, and by this 
motion, heat and action, thus produced and continued 
with sensation and thought, all of which phenomena 
constitute life itself. 

Thus then, the anatomy of the digestion and assimu- 
lating circles or systems, consists of various sets of 
vessels, but each set diametrically opposed or antago- 
nized to each other, in the manner of their actions and 
operations ; and physiology shows them to be produced 



MAGNETISM. 89 

by two antagonizing forces, centripital and centrifugal, 
from the action of which two forces a third is produced, 
which we have heretofore termed the resultant current 
or force, — that of the alimentary canal. When these 
outward and inward forces are equal to one another, 
or in a state of equilibrium, the resultant force in the 
system or individual is regular, and repeated motions of 
the bowels are produced at intervals, which is a sure 
indication of good health, of not only the digestive and 
assirnulating systems, but of the whole system itself. 
But when one of these forces predominates over the 
other, for any considerable length of time, and thereby 
i quiliqrium is long suspended, the resultant force, 
or the peristaltic action of the bowels;, as it is termed 
in the books, is either increased or diminished, and dis- 
ease is the consequence. If the centripetal force, or , 
attraction predominates, costiveness, sluggishness, cold, 
and diminished action of the voluntary motions of the 
whole system, as w^ell as thought and action, is expe- 
rienced. But on the contrary, if repulsion prevails over 
the attractions, the centrifugal force, the resultant force 
is increased, and the peristaltic action of the stomach 
and bowels are therefore made to move the oftener, 
and disease is the result of this overbalance, if long 
continued. Among the former, as a cause, may be 
reckoned all that class which terminate ultimately in 
dropsies, inflamations and spasms, and the w T hoie class 
termed by Brown, sthenic ; and among the latter, that 
numerous catalogue, termed by the same author, asthenic 
or those of debility direct, such as dysenteries, diarrheas, 
catarrhs, hemorrhages, fluxes, &c. That these forces 
do predominate in the system, there can be no question. 
They will not, nay, they can not be controverted. That 
good health is the result of the equilibrium of their ac- 
tion, will not neither be questioned. Were we to take, 
for instance, a paroxism of lever and ague to show 
rationale or manner of operation, it will become so op-* 



90 BAGG ON 

parent, that even the most dull and unobserving of the 
profession will readily see and acknowledge it. Others 
more acute, who "observe what they take notice of," 
and are not blinded by prejudice, or sunk into the arms 
of sluggish ignorance, can not fail to detect it in all 
acute and chronic diseases, as well as in the operations 
of mind. Preceeding a paroxism of intermittent fever, 
the patient is languid, listless, inactive, and stretches and 
yawns. Soon he begins to feel a numbness in the fin- 
gers and other extremities, and they sometimes turn 
blue. He now begins to feel the sensation of cold 
creeping along the spine and back ; the chest becomes 
tightened, and a general sense of languor and weight is 
felt all over the body. He now begins to feel cold 
throughout the system ; the muscles of the throat, as 
well as all over the body, are thrown into involun- 
tary action, and produce what is called shaking. No 
external heat or internal stimulus can warm him; the 
bulk of the external part of the body is diminished. 
The fluids of the surface, blood and all, are attracted to 
the centre; the brain is oppressed; the equilibrium of 
the mind is broken up. The patient who ordinarily was 
of a happy disposition, now becomes peevish and irrita- 
ble; from a rational state of mind, he becomes delirious. 
He is, in this stage, totally unable to think; can not put 
two ideas together, much less associate them; on the 
contrary, he appears like an Idiot, lunatic, or madman. 
If this continues without change, the patient dies from 
w T hat is called congestion of the books, a term little 
understood and less attended to. But if the centrifugal 
force begins to act, and overbalances the attractions, 
which is always the case, if the patient lives, he becomes 
warm, the blood and other fluids are repelled to the 
surface, which becomes hot, red and swollen. The 
bulk of every external part of the whole circumference 
is enlarged beyond its natural size, he becomes thirsty, 
the >skin, from being shrunk and cold, is now dry and 



MAOHETBMff. 91 

bot; the yawnings and stretchings. cease; the pulse, 
which before was small, irregular and contracted, now r 
omes full, slower and firm. The brain, although 
somewhat oppressed, is freer, as well as the respiration. 
The mind, although not yet restored, is relieved in pro- 
portion to the other symptoms of the body; the ideal 
begin to start and language to flow; he becomes elo- 
quent, and combinations are formed which constitute a 
kind of delirium, the brain, however, is more or less 
oppressed, until now an equilibrium is formed between 
the magnetic fluids, perspiiation comes on from the 
union of oxygen and hydrogen gases, w T hich continues 
until a perfect equalization takes place, and the patient 
is relieved, and returns toward the standard line of 
health, and but for the debility from the exhaustion 
from these alternating extremes, from and back to an 
equilibrium feels comparatively well. During the ii- 
ity and predominacy of first one of thdse forces and 
then the other, the resultant force, or that of the bow- 
rfectly impeded, hrt rid sometimes in- 

verted, as vomiting in either case is hot an infrequent 
occurrence^ so much so thafmed , — ^ven 

on tl fsion of the fit, sear i bi made 

to operate, although quadrupled in quantity, until the 
ilibriutn is restored. So i se paroxisms, 

teTnaticns of attractions, repulsions andequilinriums, 
me on many times, when left alone, at just 
such an hour of the day, or just such a point of time 
r da}\ or at such a time twice a day, or 
times every three days, which shows them an I 
56 forces to be under the effect and control of plan- 
y influence, or that of the sun. That the human 
em is subject to and liable to planetary infloeBoe, 
no novelty. The effect rff the seasons shows it as v,t I: 
as day and night, for there is as much a diurnal revolu- 
tion of the body as there is of the eartii. The feelingt 
the mind, the body, and the pulse prove it s Doing g< 
9* 



92 BAGG ON 

rally five or six more beats in a minute in the evening 
than in thr morning. We are active during the day 
in exercise, and expend something which we lay down 
at night to accumulate. What is that something? It is 
the magnetic fluids, light, the spirit of animation, the 
nervous fluid, the spirit of life itself. It is absolutely 
as necessary to sleep and rest at night, as it is to be 
active during the day, hence the body is more or less 
under the influence of the sun, the great magnet and 
luminary of the universe. Sacred and profane history 
both concur in giving testimouy to establish this position. 
From the days of Josephus down to the present period, 
the east wind has been regarded as one that not only 
blew locusts and other insects, but mildew, pestilence 
and famine. 

An attentive, observing practitioner, while treating 
diseases both acute and chronic, will never fail to disco- 
ver the effect of what is called the weather upon his pa- 
tient, in diseases of both body and mind. In nervous dis- 
eases as they are called, and such as rheumatism and 
dyspepsy, he will find during cold, damp, moist, and dark 
foggy days, his patient always worse, but in good dry 
weather, with a brilliant light from the sun, that he is 
always better. Do not influenza's, catarrh's, colds, 
coughfs, dysentaries, diarrheas, as well as diseases of the 
skin and fevers, become epidemical in certain years, and 
atdifferent times of the year ? If so, what influences the 
state and condition of the atmosphere but planetary influ- 
ence? The author himself in 1823 in the north part of 
the State of New-York, saw in his own practice a re- 
lapse of thirty cases of fever and ague on a certain day 
in the month of January, after they had been treated 
with success in the fall by quinine and bark, on the pre- 
valence of an easterly w r ind that blew uninterruptedly 
for five days in succession. Before the cholera made 
its appearance on this side the Atlantic, the wind blew 
constantly and uninterruptedly fresh, for the space of 



MAGNETISM. 93 

twenty days amongst us. After it had commenced its 
ravages, its virulence was modified by a western or 
south-western wind, and heightened again by an eastern 
direction. 

The black death, which many years since, devastated 
the best parts of Europe, was the result of planetary in- 
fluence upon man, through the medium of the atmos- 
pheric air. After twenty thousand poor Jews had been 
put to death, for the jealousy and suspicion, that they 
had poisoned the fountains of water, the faculty and 
French philosophers, and others met at Paris to investi- 
gate its cause, and after great and grave deliberation, 
they pronounced it to be in consequence of the influence 
of some stragling planet (which I now disremember,) in 
conjunction with the sun, and thus affecting the earth, 
and so published it to the world, and thus saved the re- 
maining Jews. An observing, nervous dyspeptic, in 
this or any other country, can tell by his feelings when 
an east wind prevails before he rises from his bed, and 
has no difficulty after he has gone forth. It never fails to 
repel from the surface and produce the centripetal force, 
producing dulness, inactivity, sluggishness in the well, 
and hightening all the symptoms in the sick. Now, 
whether it be the east wind that produces this effect or 
not it is difficult to determine, certain it is that they both 
appear together ; the one upon the atmosphere, the oth- 
er upon the human system. Whether it be the wind 
that produces the repulsion from the surface and attrac- 
tion to the centre, or whether the same planetary influ- 
ence that produces a curront from the east towards the 
the west, produces a current from the surface to the 
centre of the system, is not in the present state of our 
knowledge known, but we hazard the opinion that both 
are produced by negative magnetism, let what will pro- 
duce them. We have said (chap, xix) that no vegeta- 
ble enlarges and grows without the repulsions prevail 
over the attractions ; neither will a child. From that 



9i BAGG ON 

period to forty five, the repulsions taken as an aggre- 
gate prevail over the attractions, but after that period, 
the attractions prevail over the repulsions and he still 
continues to grow but in a contrary direction — down 
hill. This is general, for the whole surface of the body 
becomes shriveled and shrunk, the hair comes off, the 
teeth drop out, he goes into dotage ; hence the saying 
that once a man and twice a child ; thus showing in the 
duration of human life itself, two extremes and the me- 
ridian or equilibrium line. 






CHAPTER IV, 

THE MUSCULAR CIRCLE, MEMBRANES, AND GLANDS. 

The muscles are active and moving powers of the bo- 
dy. The greatest number are situated upon the surface 
of the body, forming what is termed the flesh and cov- 
ering of the bones, and perform what is called locomo- 
tion. Others are situated within the cavity of the body, 
and instead of performing locomotion, perform most im- 
portant functions of the system ; such as the heart and 
arteries, the gullet, the stomach and bowels, which are 
termed hollow muscles ; they are however, composed of 
muscular fibres. Although their appearance is nearly 
the same, they differ in situation and function. Of the 
locomotive muscles there may be reckoned four hundred 
and thirty six, which, like the nerves are antagonized to 
each other and arise in pairs. Hence we have the ad- 
ductors and abductors, the flexors and extensors, the le- 
vators and depressors, the ascendens and descendens, the 
superior oblique and the inferior oblique, the perpendic- 
ular and transverse ; in short, they occur throughout the 
system like the nerves, in pairs, and are antagonized to 
each other. They are the moving powers of the body, 
and produce this effect by contraction and expansion, 



e 



MAGNETISE* 95 

(attraction and repulsion). When we move the arm or 
leg, the muscles on one side contract, while the other 
expand, as may be seen or felt by the most common ob- 
server. From their origin and insertions, or their ex- 
tremities or extremes, being inserted or attached to cer- 
tain fixed points in the bones, by the brain, through the 
medium of the nerves by attraction and repulsion, are 
the immediate cause of all the motions of the body. — 
They are composed of fleshy bundles of fibers formed 
according to Sir Everard Home and others, by minute 
little globules, arranged generally parallel to each other, 
and separated by cellular membrane which connects 
them together, and favors the distribution of numerous 
blood vessels, lymphatics and nerves, with which they 
are supplied. These minute fibers are sometimes arran- 
ged in one direction, and sometimes in another. Some- 
times they run in direct lines parallel the whole length 
of the muscle ; they are then called straight muscles. — 
Sometimes, although parallel, they run in an oblique di- 
rection and the muscle is called oblique. Sometimes 
they take a circular motion, as in those that surround the 
eye and mouth ; they are then termed orbicular mus- 
cles. Thus much of this class. The hollow muscles, 
such as the esophagus, in addition to its glands, mucous 
membrane, villous coat, or cellular membrane, are com- 
posed of a muscular coat of two layers ; one set are ar- 
ranged longitudinally and the other circular, with a cen- 
tral membranous lining. By the agency of the brain, 
through the medium of the nerves upon these, is the ac- 
tion of swallowing produced. The operation of these 
two forces from, or of the magnetic fluids, upon this 
structure or machinery, or arrangement of fibers, agree- 
able to the laws of mechanics, would be, and is, to pro- 
pel the food onward to the stomach. The several mem- 
branes as intermediate substances, as we shall show at 
the proper time, contribute also to assist their operation. 
The stomach, the next portion of the alimentary canal. 



96 BAGG ON 

is a large and expanded portion, likened to a bagpipe, 
largest towards one end and tapering towards the other, 
its situation is we 11 known. It is connected above with 
the esophagus, and below with the intestines. Its struc- 
ture is like the esophagus, composed of three coats or 
layers. The outer coat is composed of a serous mem- 
brane which is a reflection of the peritineum. Within 
it, and connected by cellular substance to it, is a layer 
of muscnlar fibers, forming the muscular coat. This 
muscular coat like the esophagus, is made up of two sets 
of fibers, one longitudinal and the other circular. The 
next or internrl coat is the nervous coat. The mucous 
coat is connected w r ith the muscular by cellular sub- 
stance, which is sometimes termed the nervous coat. 
The stomach has numerous blood vessels and absorbents, 
and receives its nerves which are very numerous, from 
the great sympathetic and par vagum. It is also studed 
over its surface with numerous glands. The intestines 
commence from the pyloric orifice of the stomach, and 
their being the same, we shall describe their structure, 
(which is only here intended) without going into that ar- 
bitrary division mentioned by anatomists. The struc- 
ture of them then, is made up of three coats, like the 
stomach, though varying somewhat in the length, thick- 
ness or sparseness of their muscular fibers ; a serous 
coat, a muscular coat with two sets of fibers, one longi- 
tudinal, the other circular, and a mucous coat. The 
muscular coat differs somewhat in different intestines or 
portions of this canal. In the small intestines there are 
but few longitudinal fibers. In the colon they are dis- 
posed in three bands, to facilitate its division into cells. 
In the rectum they resemble those of the gullet. The in- 
ner or mucous coat of the intestinal canal is important, 
for on this membrane it is that the action of the intes- 
tines, v or preparation and separation of chyle depends. 
It is very voluminous and its surface increased by nu- 
merous doublings and puckerings, or what are called val- 






MAGNETISM. 5*7 

vula conniventes. The intestines are abundantly sup- 
plied with blood vessels, absorbents and nerves; part of 
them arise from the par vagum, but they are mostly sup- 
plied by the great sympathetic nerve. Between the 
mucous membrane and muscular coat, there are found a 
large number of glands, both single and compound, or 
solitary, single and conglobate. " The intestinal ca- 
nal possesses amotion backwards and forwards, or a wa- 
ving motion, to subject and expose its contents to the 
action of the exhalents and lacteals that open on the sur- 
face of the mucous folds. This is called the peristaltic 
motion of the bowels. The food after being mastica- 
ted in the mouth, passes through the gullet into the sto- 
mach, where it is retained till it is reduced to a pulpy 
mass commonly called chime, from which in the pelvic 
portion of the stomach the chyle begins to be separated. 
The chylification is completed in the duodenum, and 
while the alimentary mass is traversing the small intes- 
tines. The greater part of the chyle is taken up by the 
lacteals, while the more solid and excrementitious part 
passes through the colon and rectum to be evacuated by 
the anus. Thus we have touched upon the muscles of 
the body, the object is apparent ; to show from their an- 
atomical structure, use and action, that they occur in 
pairs and are antagonized to each other, and must of ne- 
cessity have a corresponding antagonizing principle or 
force for giving them impulse and motion, and that this 
principle is the magnetic fluids. 

In addition to these, and the other circles touched up- 
on, and partly explained in the preceding chapters, wo 
rind a vast membraneous and glandular system no less 
adapted by their formation and extent to assist in the 
galvanic or magnetic operations of the system. The 
former are comprised of three distinct membranes. The 
skin which covers the external surface of the body; the 
mucous membranes which lines all the internal part* 
that communicate with the externals and the serou? 



98 BAGG ON 

membranes which lines all the periphery of the internal 
cavities. These membranes, their use and action, are 
so well described by Dr. Sherwood in his admirable li- 
tle work on motive power, that we avail ourself of its 
details. " On viewing the human system we find it co- 
vered with a complex membraneous structure, called the 
skin. Besides three membranes classed under the gen- 
eral term skin or integuments, there are found in it an 
innumerable number of minute globular bodies called pa- 
pilliary glands. These little globate bodies, are found 
to be highly organized, having minute arteries termina- 
ting, and minute veins commencing in their structure. 
They are found out by means of magnifying glasses of 
great power, to have minute ducts issuing from them ? 
and terminating every where with open orifices on the 
surface of the skin. On examination of the organs as 
the brain, lungs, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, cystes, 
uterus, stomach and intestines, we find them all without 
an exception covered with a kind of skin called a serous 
membrane, in which is enclosed an incalculable number 
of minute glands or elementary organs, with ducts ter- 
minating in open orifices on the surface of their mem- 
branes, like those of the common covering of the body. 
The glands of both structures are formed on examina- 
tion of the orifices of these ducts to secrete an aqueous 
or watery fluid, by which these surfaces are constantly 
maintained in a humid or moist state. The great quan- 
tity of this fluid seen running off* from the skin, and its 
accumulation in the cavities containing the organs, when 
these glands are excited to inordinate action attest both 
the perfection of their mechanism, and their fitness for 
their specific use. If we now proceed to examine the 
membrane which lines the internal parts of the body, 
we shall find it with slight modifications, characterized 
by the same structure as the serous membranes. This 
modification principally consists in its having what is 
called a villous, instead of a serous surface, like the se- 






MAGNETISM. 86 

rous membranes. We find tne whole track of the ali- 
mentary canal, including the mouth, esophagus, stom- 
ach, and intestines, lined with this membrane, as well as 
the internal parts of every organ, including even the ven- 
tricles of the brain. On a minute examination of the 
structure of the mucous membrane, we find them like 
the skin and serous membranes, enclosing numerous lit- 
tle round or oval glands or villi as they are termed, ha- 
ving like the papilliary glands of the skin, their appro- 
priate arteries, veins and ducts, terminating with open 
orifices on the surface. They are further characterized 
by numerous little cavities, crypts or follicles, as they 
are called, which have more or less a spheroidal shape, 
and which also open upon the surface of these mem- 
branes. These ducts and follicles are found to be filled 
with a semi-fluid or mucous, which is constantly issuing 
from them, and which spreads upon these membraneous 
surfaces. In pursuing this subject, we have thus found 
two different kind of surfaces disposed in two different 
ways, and thus covered by two different kinds of fluids* 
These are extraordinary results of our investigations 
thus far, and will encourage us to proceed in them, for 
it is easy to see that there must have been some object 
in this order and dispostion of these different kinds of 
matter. On investigating the nature and qnahties 6i 
these fluids, it is found that the excretion from the skin 
and serous membranes are more or less acid, and those 
from the mucous membrane more or less alkaline. They 
are sometimes so strongly acid and alkaline, as to ex- 
cite the curiosity of the most common observer. Tin. 
acid is found to be muriatic, and the alkali soda or mu- 
riate of soda or common salt. The acids and alkalies 
which possess the most directly opposite properties and 
have at the eame time the strongest affinities for each 
other, are universally diffused in the earth as well as in 
the vegetable and animal kingdoms. They constitute 
two great and principle divisions of matter, one of which 
10 






100 BAGG ON 

the acid for the sake of distinction is called negative mat- 
ter, and the alkali positive. Now it is satisfactorily as- 
certained from repeated experiments that each of these 
different kinds of matter gives out constantly an innate 
and different kind of force. It is also ascertained in the 
same manner, that the alkaline or positive matter gives 
out the magnetic force, and that the acidified gives out 
the positive. The positive matter then, on the internal 
surface of the body and organs, is constantly giving out 
the negative force, and the negative matter on the ex- 
ternal surfaces of the body and organs, the positive force. 
On a further examination of the human structure, we 
find four hundred and twenty-six muscles of different 
iorms disposed in different ways for the purpose of pro- 
ducing motion. We know that they are formed for this 
purpose, for we can see that some of them expand and 
others contract when we move the limb or limbs. For 
when we bend our arm, we find that the muscles on the 
out side of it expand, while those on the inside contract. 
On extending the arm we find this order reversed, for 
then the muscles on the inside expand, while those on 
the outside contract with equal force. One end of these 
muscles is attached to the lower part of the bone belong- 
ing to the upper part of the arm, called the humerus, and 
the other ends are attached to the lower ends of the 
bones of the lower part of the arm near the wrist, call- 
ed the radius and ulna, so that while the lower part of 
these bones is pushed on one side, when the muscles of 
that side is extended, it is pulled at the same time on the 
opposite side, when the muscles on that side are contrac- 
ted, and thus motion is produced by the simultaneous 
action of these muscles. Now it is a remarkable fact 
that every one of these four hundred and thirty -six mus- 
cles which thus produce motion in different parts of the 
body, is covered with a membrane the outer surface of 
which has a serous, and the inner side a mucous surface; 
hence these membranes are called muco-serous mem- 



MAGNETISM. 101 

branes ; all these different surfaces then, like those of 
the skin and membranes of other parts of the body, are 
covered with different kinds of matter, presenting to- 
gether immense surfaces, from which constantly issue 
two forces of different kinds." The reader who has 
seen a common galvanic battery, cannot fail to observe 
that this arrangement of surfaces corresponds with that 
of the different metallic surfaces of the battery. He 
will also notice that these forces thus maintained on these 
surfaces, exactly correspond with those necessarily main- 
tained on different surfaces of the battery. The two 
forces are conducted from the two metalic surfaces of 
the poles of the battery, by two metalic wires, and if we 
can now find conductors to convey the forces from the 
skin and different membraneous surfaces to the poles, 
the resemblance will be complete and satisfactory. In 
pursuing this subject we find numerous minute threads 
called nerves, penetrating the little glands of the skin 
surfaces and mucous membrane, and every fiber of a 
muscle. On tracing these nerves, we see them uniting 
together and increasing in size, in proportion to the dis- 
tance from these surfaces, and at length conjoining with 
the spinal cord. The spinal cord is formed into four co- 
lumns, united first with a broad base and then with the 
brain. These forces are therefore conducted from the 
skin and membraneous surfaces and concentrated in the 
brain to form poles or a motive power, to put in motion 
this apparently complicated yet really simple machine- 
ry. This structure, arrangement and order of the dif- 
ferent parts of the human body, was well known to Mal- 
pighi, Ruych, Haller, Hunter and Bichat, and are rec- 
ognized by every anatomist of the present age, and now 
present to our view a galvanic battery altogether supe- 
rior to any other constructed by the ingenuity of man. 
The forces collected from the surfaces, the mucous 
and serous membranes, including the skin, and conduct- 
ed to the brain, are identicle with those collected from 






102 BAGG ON 

the surfaces of these circles of copper and zinc, and con- 
ducted to the poles oi the battery, as seen in the follow- 
ing article copied from the Medico-Chirurgical Review, 
for January 1837. 

On the chemical properties of the secretions in health 
and disease, and on the existence of electric currents in 
organized bodies induced by the acidity and alcalinety of 
their different membraneous surfaces, M. Donne, whom 
we have repeatedly occasion to mention with praise, is 
the author of some curious statements on this subject. 
All that we propose to do, is merely to present to our 
readers the leading results of his inquiries. They are 
contained in the following corrollories : 

1. The whole of the ligimentary surface, secretes an 
acid humor. It is however to be noticed that the sweat 
instead of being as generally stated more acid in the ax- 
illa and around the organs of generation than in other 
parts, is frequently of an alkaline character. 

2. The alimentary canal, from the mouth to the an- 
nus, (except the stomach, (the gastric juice of which is 
strongly acid, as ] has been proved by Prout, Tiedman, 
and Gemelin, I secretes an alkaline mucous. Thus the 
saliva and also the mucous of pharynx and oesophagus, 
as far as the cardia, and of the intestinal canal from the 
pylorus to the anus, are alcaline in health, and becomes 
acid only in consequence of disease. 

3* The serous and synovial membranes secrete an al- 
kaline fluid, in disease it sometimes becomes acid. 

4. The external acid, and internal alcaline membranes 
of the body, represent the two poles of a galvanic pile 
whose effects are appreciable by a galvanometer. For 
if one of the conductors of this instrument be placed in 
contact with the mucous membrane of the mouth, and 
the other conductor be applied to the skin, the magnetic 
needle will be found to show a deviation of 15 to 20, or 
even 30 degrees ; and the direction of the needle proves 
that the mucous or alkaline membrane indicate a nega- 



MAGNETISM. 103 

tive electricity, and the cutaneous or acid membrane, a 
positive elect?ricity. 

5. Independently of the two great surfaces, exhibiting 
opposite electrical states, there are other cognate sys- 
tems, which are similarly opposed. Between the stom- 
ach, for example an4 the liver, we may discover ener- 
getic electrical currents. 

6. The acid humours of the system may beconne al- 
kaline, and the alkaline may become acid in a state of 
disease. 

7. The abnormal acidity is usually the result of a 
phlegmasia, and this change may take place in an organ 
at a distance from an inflamed part ; thus the saliva be- 
comes strongly acid in gastritis. 

8. The acid developed during the existence of in- 
flamatory disease appears to be most frequently the hy- 
dro chloric. The presence of this acid may very pos- 
sibly determine the coagulation of the albumymous part 
of the lymph, or serosity which abounds in all inflamed 
structures, and we know that this coagulation is the 
cause of thef alse membranes, of specks and opacities of 
the cornea, and of the induration and hypertrophy of 
many parenchymatous organs. Purulent matter is pro- 
duced by the action of an acid upon albuminous lymph. 
It is a species of combination of acid and albumen. Al- 
though we cannot always discover traces of a free acid 
in inflamatory effusions, and although pus does not al- 
ways reden, the blue paper of turnsol, we are to re- 
member that by far the greatest number of the humors 
of the animal body in health arc strongly alkaline, and 
that in this way the generation of acid in disease may be 
masked or concealed for some time, in consequence of 
the neutralizing of the original or primary alcali. 

9. The operations in the chemical nature of the se- 
cretions must react on the different functions of the sys- 
tem. They will be found to constitute an interesting 
group of lesions, or svmptoms hitherto but little regard- 

10* 



104 BAOG ON 

ed, and the diligent investigation of which may very 
possibly lead to some important theraputic results. — i 
These changes will probably be found to induce certain 
modifications in the electrical cui rents, which exits be- 
tween the different organs of the animal economy." 

Thus it will be seen, that the needle obeys the forces 
of these different surfaces of the copper and zinc in the 
battery. When the body is lightly charged with the 
forces, strong poles are sometimes formed in the ends of 
the fingers, which the needle obeys like the poles of the 
magnet. Here then, we discover in the anatomy of the 
membranes this same antagonizing principle produce our 
opposite principles, generating opposite forces. By tes- 
timony as we have quoted, we obtain facts that these 
forces are the magnetic ; that they are measured and 
tested by the magnet itself ; that these currents of elec- 
tricity varied the needle to the extent of fifteen, twenty 
and thirty degrees. Thus not only in addition to our 
other facts, positively proves them to be the magnetic 
fluids, but it also goes to prove the identity of electrici- 
ty and magnetism. The structure and natural arrange- 
ment of these membranes are perfectly analogous to the 
galvanic battery. The currents are shown to be elec- 
tricity, and by the magnetic attractions are proved to be 
the magnetic fluids ; thus adding further testimony to 
the identity of these fluids or principles, but also estab- 
lishes the fact of correspondencies, to wit : That alkar 
lies correspond to the positive pole of magnetism, and 
that acids correspond to the negative pole, as the forces 
are shown to flow from these states or conditions of 
matter. It now only remains for us to examine the brain 
nerves and some few other organs, when we shall pass 
to the consideration of nutriment, or the food of man. 



MAGNETISM. 105 

CHAPTER V. 

THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 

The brain is the centre of all the other circles and 
systems of circles of the whole system, and communi- 
cates with, influences, and controls the whole, through 
the medium of the nerves. It is not only the organ of 
mind, of sensation, but volition and muscular motion. 
The nerves are its appendages or machinery. The 
brain and nerves are so intimately connected and asso- 
aiated, that they might with propriety be termed a 
w r hole, for one is as necessary to the other as the mental 
is to the physical system. The brain, although depend- 
ent relatively upon the whole system for its healthy 
state and action, and particularly upon the assimulating 
and circulatory, for nutrition and support, stands like a 
monarch to every other part of the system, sight, sound, 
touch, taste, temperature and smell, are an reflect or 
ehanges upon the brain through their several nervous 
organs. They may be compared or likened to so many 
avenues or windows of the organ of mind, towards the 
external w r orld, through which the brain communicates 
with external objects and internal agents. It is divided 
into two hemispheres, one on either side; originating 
from which are two sets of nerves, one from each hem- 
isphere, arising in opposition to its antagonist. Thus 
the brain and nerves, as well as the general system, are 
double, the reason of which will be explained in the 
sequel. All the organs of sense, (chap, xix,) as well as 
muscular motion, are also double. The nerves are long 
slender threads, which branch out and ramify into such 
an infinitude of little fibrils, and are spread so upon the 
internal part of the body, as well as upon the skin, that 
the point of a needle can not be touched to the skin, 
but they will be disturbed, and yet each has its antago- 
nist. The brain, in its operations, is characterized by 
two fundamental laws, sensation and volition. The 



106 BAGG ON 

combinations of the two produces association. Sensa- 
tion is that change that takes place in the organ from 
objects that are external to it, and commences in the 
circumference, and terminates in the centre, (chap, vn.) 
Volition, on the contrary, commences in the centre and 
terminates in the circumference or extremities. The 
former we term the centripetal, the latter the centrifu- 
gal force of the brain. The former is produced by 
attraction, the latter by repulsion. If I prick my finger 
with a pointed instrument, the brain, through the me- 
dium of the nerves, instantly feels it, which begins in 
the extremity and ends in the centre. But if I will to 
raise my hand or finger, the change or force commences 
in the centre and terminates in the circumference or 
extremity. With the first, sensation was painful; in 
the last, motion was upward. Thus we have seen that the 
nerves are long slender threads which arise from differ- 
ent portiQus of the brain, and are radiated in every 
direction, so as to communicate and form a connection 
with every part of the system. As they arise they are 
arranged into pairs. Anatomists have discovered and 
noted thirty-nine, nine of which arise from the great 
dimensions of the brain, called cerebrum, cerebellum, 
and medulla oblongata, and the remainder from the 
spinal marrow. These nine are chiefly diverted, but 
not wholly so, to the local senses, the remainder, thirty 
pair, are distributed over over the body to produce the 
fifth sense of touch and feeling. There is another part 
of the nervous system, which is the sympathetic or 
intercostal nerve, which, although not distinct, is so pe- 
culiar as to claim almost the term of system of itself, 
a circle between the two other circles of cerebral and 
vertebral influence. It is connected with both. It is an 
offsett from the six pairs of nerves- of each side, and in 
its passage receives branches from the fifth, and all the 
vertebral. From this union it is studied with numerous 
ganglions or integements like brain, of which there are 



MAGNETISM. 107 

not less than three in the neck, " alone tinted'' by an 
addition of cineritious substance, a large number in its 
line through the chest, and others as it descends still 
deeper, independently of various confluences of smaller 
branches, that unite and form extensive networks. 
Having reached the hollow of the oscocygis, it meets 
its twin from the opposite side, which has pursued a 
similar course, and received contributions. Thus equal- 
ly enriched with the nervous stores of the brain and 
spinal marrow, it sends off radiations as it takes the 
course of the aorta, to all the organs of the thorax, 
abdominal and hypogastric regions to the lungs, the 
heart, the stomach and intestines, the bladder, arteries, 
and testes, and thus becomes an emporium of nervous 
commerce and elargement of general sympathy, and 
what is of infinite importance in so complicated a frame 
as man, furnishes to the vital organs streams of nervous, 
supply from so many anastomosing currents, that if one 
or more than one should fail or be cut off, the function 
may still be continued. To this it is owing, in a very 
considerable degree, that the organs of the upper and 
lower belly exhibit that nice fellowship of feeling which 
often surprises us, and that most of them are apt to 
sympathise in the actual state of brain. As the brain 
consists of three general divisions, besides that of hem- 
ispheres, it might seem, at first sight, that each of these 
were allotted for some distinct purpose, different from 
the other : but anatomy, by the hand of the dissector, 
shows differently, as both nerves of general, as well as 
particular purposes, arise from the same portion of brain. 
Thus the cerebrum gives rise to the nerves of vision 
and smell, as well as the occulorum motorii, which serves 
for the purpose of muscular motion. So the cerebellum 
gives rise to nerves that convey motive as well as sen- 
sile power. While from the medulla oblongata, originate 
the auditory, the par vagum, and lingual. The first a 
nerve of hearing: ; the second of feeling ; and the third 



108 BAGG ON 

of motivity. At the same time that many parts of the 
brain maintain an interunion with other parts by means 
of ganglions commisures, and decussations of nerves, 
whence injuries on one side are often accompanied with 
loss of motion or feeling on the other side. Thus then, 
a sensorial communication is kept up between some part 
of the brain and every part of the body, and that this 
communication is conducted by the nerves is unques- 
tionable, from the following facts. If we divide, tie, or 
cut, or merely compress a nerve of any kind, the muscle 
with which it communicates becomes almost instantly 
palsied, and if the cerebrum, cerebellum, or medulla 
oblongata be irritated, convulsions take place all over 
the body, chiefly, however, when the irritation is ap- 
plied to the last of the three mentioned parts. From 
the best sources of information within our reach, from 
such men as M. Bauer and Sir Everard Home, and 
others, as well as from the assistance of the best micro- 
scopes, the substance of the brain appears to be made 
up of a delicate fibrous tissue of minute globes, or 
globules, precisely of the size of those of the blood 
w T hen deprived of their coloring principle or matter. 
It appears then, that the brain is naturally divided into 
two hemispheres or portions, and from these, and cor- 
responding with them, are two distinct sets of nerves, 
antagonized to each other, but connected after their 
universal ramifications and radiations upon the skin and 
internal parts, together by the great sympathetic nerve, 
besides their general distribution all over the system. 
Anatomists and physiologists attribute this connection, 
as well as the brain and nervous system, to the wisdom 
of the great architect, as a provision to guard against 
accidents, or the reason why it was made double, was 
the necessity of a substitute, in case one side or set 
should happen to be injured so as to become useless, the 
deficiency could be supplied by the other. Were this 
true, we should be led to believe that in following up 



MAGNETISM. 109 

the principle, in the economy of nature, certain individ- 
uals that have appeared upon the stage of action, and 
evidently intended by Providence to perform great ex- 
ploits, would have endowed them, not only with double 
organs, but with triple and quadruple. We should be 
led to believe that such men as Moses and Sampson, 
Cromwell and Bonaparte, Washington, Jefferson, Jack- 
son, and others, would have had at least four sets of 
organs, for fear others might have, from action, been 
incapacitated ; but the argument is not tenable, not sup- 
ported by fact, or any plausibility of truth. It is too 
week and feeble for moro consideration. 

On the contrary, the great reason for man, as well as 
other animals, being formed double, with two sets of 
muscles, nerves, &c, is from the very nature and cause 
of his existence itself. The whole system is but a gal- 
vanic battery, an electerizing machine, a great magnet, 
or like the solar system. Who ever got electric fluid 
from a machine without a rubber? Who ever saw a 
magnet with but one pole 1 Or who ever saw an effect 
from a galvanic battery with but one plate, either the 
zinc or copper, separate from the other ? On the con- 
trary, it is well known that no appearance of light, or 
heat, or motion, or effect, ever takes place from the 
poles of a galvanizing or electrizing machine, unless the 
poles be brought within a certain sphere of influence or 
contact. But that the eleatric, or galvanic, or magnetic 
fluid passes up the wires before we can see or feel it, 
or any sensible effect is produced, we know, because we 
test it with a compass needle. If we apply it to the 
wires separately, before the battery is charged, or before 
the acid commences to operate on either plate of metal, 
it will point lengthways, or in a line with the wires ; 
but as soon as the process commences, it will stand and 
point across it at right angles ; and as soon as we have 
brought the poles together, and an equilibrium is obtain- 
ed, and a spark is seen, it will again become lengthways 









110 BAGG ON 

or point in that direction. The reason why it was ne- 
cessary then, to form man and other animals double, 
was to give them action and life, which they could no 
more have had without having been thus constructed, 
than could an electric spark have been obtained from 
one plate and pole of a galvanic battery, or of an elec- 
trizing machine. 

Thus then, one hemisphere, as well as one side of the 
whole system, secretes, excretes, and puts into opera- 
tion positive magnetism*, while the other puts into action 
negative magnetism, and by the operation of which, by 
attraction and repulsion, like the galvanic battery, pro- 
duces heat, motion, sensation and thought. This we 
conceive to be the simple and only cause why man was 
made, in his organs of sense, volition, and muscular mo- 
tion, double, as well as accounts more particularly and 
clearly for the peculiar construction, formation and con- 
nection of both sides, or systems of nerves, through the 
medium of the great sympathetic. We observed when 
upon matter, (chap, x.) that the minute atoms of all ma- 
terial substances, were in the form of globes, globules, 
or magnets, and that they were liable to a change of 
their poles, and that the varieties of matter were owing 
to this law, and that this change was produced by the 
influence of the magnetic fluids. 

What is the structure of the brain? Of what com- 
posed? What its form and shape ? It is spherical They 
are so loosely put together by a delicate cellular sub- 
stanceor tissue, so tender that it will scarcely stand the 
force of a syringe, the mere suction of which is suffi- 
cient to derange and reduce them to a chaotic mass. , 
Sir Everard endeavored to show, by these and other' 
disclosures, that muscular fibres are formed by an at- 
tachment of one globule of blood to another, as well 
as granulations by pus, which M. Bauer confirmed. 
Dr. Philip showed that spirits of wine, applied to the 
posterior part of the naked braiu of an animal, had the 



MAGNETISM. Ill 

same effect upon the heart as when applied to the heart 
itself. The anatomy of the brain then, beneath the 
knife of such eminent dissectors and anatomists, shows 
the very elements of the composition of the organ of 
mind to be globes, spheres, or magnets, and therefore, 
instead of our theory being hypothetical, it is establish- 
ed by fact, for if the ultimate atoms of the brain be 
globes or magnets, none will doubt but what its opera- 
tions, in its sensations and volitions, reflections, judge- 
ments and associations, from simple notions or impres- 
sions up to the compounds of discourses, is the result 
of the operation of the magnetic fluids. Can there yet 
be those who intrench themselves behind the breast- 
work of ignorance, notwithstanding the light of estab- 
lished well known facts, turn up their noses in mock 
wisdom, with their interesting countenances drawn to 
an angle of forty-five degrees towards the horizon, 
from the organ of self-esteem, and exclaim that the 
vital principle is beyond our conceptions and past finding 
out'l What looks more reasonable, clear and convinc- 
ing, than that those quick perceptions, thoughts, motions 
and actions of lightning speed, are performed by light- 
ning, electricity, magnetism, operating upon those little 
magnets, and producing action by the law of attraction 
and repulsion, like the motion of all other matter in 
nature. 

The animated system only differs from matter by its 
having heat, thought, sensation and motion. These are 
its grand characteristics. Now all motion in nature is 
either chemical or mechanical. Have we not clearly 
demonstrated that all absolute mechanical force and 
chemical affinity, are dependent upon this principle for 
their motion, action and effect] Who then knows of 
any other kind of motion but from this principle I Have 
we not shown that the action of these two forces in 
nature was agreeable to all philosophers, the laws of 
mechanics, and observation, to produce a sphere, a ring, p/ 



% 



112 BAGG ON 

a tube ? What other force or forces can produce this 
effect? Are not, in fact, all substances spherical or 
round ? How is it in both the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms'? Who ever saw a plant that was not circu- 
lar in some form or other? Did any one ever notice 
a square apple, potatoe, or any other fruit, seed or root? 
Are not all the organs, vessels and functions of animals 
round, circular or sphericle,.more or less? Are not the 
very component particles of the blood, which in sacred 
history is termed the "life of the animal," made up of 
little globules or magnets, as well as the ultimate atoms 
composing the brain itself? Is not blood made from the 
food by these forces, as well as the brain also? These 
forces then, in every sense in which they may be con- 
sidered, are shown to be the cause of life ? The seeds 
of all plants, and the eggs of all animals ars spherical, 
as well as the plant when growing, and the animal when 
living. We have the authority of Sir Isaac Newton, 
that the form of all the planets is owing to these forces. 
We then again repeat, that every thing is globular or 
spherical, from a dew-drop up to a world, by the action 
of these forces. That rain falls in drops, melted lead 
into shot, water into hail, and that water crystalizes ii} 
atmospheric air in the form of the planet Herschel, and 
falls to the earth m the form of snow, as pointed out by 
Sherwood, from Blackwood's Magazine. Do not the 
two forces revolve a machine, like Brewster's or Daven- 
port's, in a circular line ? Does not the cannon ball 
describe a segment of a circle when propelled by these 
forces? Is it not projected by repulsion, and drawn to 
the earth by attraction? If we apply the north end of 
a magnet to the north end of a compass needle, it repels 
it, and attracts the south pole, so as to reverse them. 
These poles now, in this motion of reversal of their 
extremities, perform a perfect circle : this circle we will 
take as the diagram for the operation of the magnetic 
forces in all matter in nature, and the law by which 



MAGNETISM. 113 

they are governed. Is it derogatory to nature to believe 
thai by the union and operation of these forces from 
one magnet, she can make and perfect one of the same 
kind, or by a little modification of them, to make one 
of a different kind ? In fact, is not this the philosophy 
and rationale of all propogations \ Some of the lower 
order of animals have neither brain or nerves, and how 
are their muscular motions commenced and propogated? 
What their anatomy? They are destitute of a verte- 
bral column also, as the transparent polypii. When 
they are examined by the best magnifying glasses, are 
found to consist of nothing but a congeries of these 
globules in a granular form, like boiled sago, surrounded 
by a gelatinous matter. In some tribes they are con- 
nected, and even in others they are perfectly separate. 
Now whatever motion or sensation these w r orms possess, 
must and can not but be from these globules. M. Virey 
has hence divided all animals into three classes, accord- 
ing to the nature of their configuration, ; 'lst, those of 
two nerves, one on either side, or a nervous system and 
a sympathetic nerve ; 2d, those that have a sympathetic 
nerve alone ; and 3d, those that have nothing but nervous 
molecules, as the Echni, Polypii, and infusory animal- 
cules, corals, madrepores and sponges ; all of which are 
included in the term Zoophites." Anatomists judge of 
the use of a part or muscle by its looks, appearance, 
origin and insertion, which is said to be good inductive 
logic. Why not judge of these globules of the brain in 
the same manner ? Their form must indicate their use 
as well as those of the blood, and the force that made, 
and when made, moves them also. The nerves in the 
lower order of animals being, instead of brains and 
nerves, simply globules, sometimes connected and some- 
times loose, show to any candid mind, that motion can 
not be produced in any other manner but by the agency 
of magnetism or electricity, for there is no communica- 
tion between them but a loose gelatinous substance. 



114 BAGG ON 

Now as these animals move themselves, like all others, 
by the will, by this principle (by attraction and repul- 
sion) is it not reasonable to suppose that the other two 
classes are moved in the same manner 1 Does not na- 
ture, through all her works, in all her operations, act 
by general lawst When was she ever known to act 
counter to a general principle? It is admitted by all, 
and has been from Galen down to the present time, that 
the brain is a gland, and secretes the nervous fluid and 
excretes it. Darwin called it the spirit of animation. 
Girtanner believed it to be oxygen, and all believe it to 
be a subtile impondurable fluid. Philip almost proved, 
and believed he did quite^ the identy of it with electric- 
ity. And why is it not, after what has been seen and 
said, the most reasonable conclusion t Let us look for 
a moment to another low order of animals, to fishes. 
There are many animals in the tribe of fish that will 
J give out electricity or magnetism sufficient to benumb 
the hand of man so as palsy it completely. We will at 
this time mention but those that have the most power, 
such as the Torpedo Ray, and the Electric Eel or 
Gimnote, which inhabit the Mediterranean, and was 
once imputed to magic. The ancients believed that 
when they bit at the hook, they could throw the influence 
through the whole length of hook, line and pole, so as 
to palsy the arm, and thereby escape being caught, as 
described by Oppian, in Greek verse, and translated bv 
Dr. Good : 

"The hook'd torpedo, wi.h instinctive force, 
Calls all his niagie from its secret source ; 
And through the hook, the line, the taper pole, 
Throws to th' offending arm his stern control. 
The palsied fisherman, in dumb surprise, 
Feels through his frame the chilling vapours rise, 
Drops the vain rod, and seems, in stiffening pain, 
Some frost fixed wanderer o'er the icy plain." 

Indeed, it is believed by naturalists of the present day, 
ani witnout doubt is true ; and would have such an 



MAGNETISM. 115 

effect if a spear were used instead of hook and line. 
The influence is voluntary, and can be communicated at 
will, as the animal will sometimes allow of being touch- 
ed without exciting or communicating the influence. 
^He occasionally loiters on the moist sands of the shore, 
after the tide has gone out, and buries himself under 
it. By a brisk flapping of his fins, he seems to fling 
this material all over him, and in this state he is said to 
inflict, at times, even through the sand that covers him, 
a torpor so severe as to throw down the astonished 
passenger that is inadvertantly walking over it. The 
voltaic eel is also obviously known and acknowledged 
to be more powerful than the torpedo. The latter ma- 
king a series of shocks, of less or greater violence, as 
from a more highly ..concentrated battery ; and the tor- 
pedo by a numbness or torpor, whence its name, pro- 
duced by small but incessant vibrations of voltaism, 
seldom, excepting in severe cases, amounting in the 
aggregation of shocks, and precisely similar to what is 
felt in a limb on applying to it a great multitude of weak 
shocks or strokes, rapidly repeated, from a Leyden vial. 
The more formidable power ci the gymnote, enables it, 
upon the authority of most experimentalists, to give not 
only severe shocks, both in the water and out of it, 
when in actual contact vith another animal, but to con- 
vey them, as we have seen that the Torpedo is said to 
do, though upon doubtful testimony, through long poles. 
It is probable that these poles must be wet before they 
would become good conductors ; for both the Gymnote 
and Eel arc found to be limited to precisely the same 
conducting and non-conducting media as are met with 
tn common electricity. 

Thus then, in addition to the anatomy of the minute 
structure of the human system, as well as the lower 
class of- animals, as well as their double brain, and sets 
of nerves, muscles, &c*, we have at least two species of 
animals that not onlv exist, and whose functions of life 
11* 



116 



BAGG ON 



are carried on by this principle, but are endowed with 
the power of making it a species of defence against their 
enemies. But the power of giving out shocks of elec- 
tricity is not confined to these lower order of animals. 
The human system is capable, under certain circumstan- 
ces, of giving out shocks of electricity. The following 
is from Silliman's Journal. 

On the 28th day of January 1839 during a somewhat 
extraordinary display of northern lights a respectable la- 
dy became highly charged with electricity, so as to give 
out vivid electrical sparks from the end of each finger 
to the face of each of the company present. This did 
not cease with the heavenly phenomena, but continued 
several months, during which time she was constantly 
charged, and giving off electrical sparks, to every con- 
ductor she approached. This was extremely vexatious, 
as she could not touch the stove or any metallic utensil 
without first giving off an electric spark, with the con- 
sequent twinge. The state most favorable to this phe- 
nomenon was an atmosphere of eighty degrees Faren- 
heit, moderate exercise, and social enjoyment. It dis- 
appeared in an atmosphere approaching zero, and under 
the debilitating effects of fear. When seated by the 
stove with her feet upon the fender, she gave sparks at 
the rate of three or four a minute, and under the most 
favorable circumstances, a spaik that could be seen, 
heard or felt, passed every second. She could charge 
others in the same way when insulated, who could then 
give sparks to others. To make it satisfactory that her 
dress did not produce it, it was changed to cotton, and 
woollen, without altering the phenomenon. 

The lady is about thirty, of sedentary habits and pur- 
suits, and delicate state of health, having for two years 
previously suffered from acute rheumatism and neural- 
gic affections, with peculiar symptoms. Here then, we 
see that under certain circumstances, the human system 
like a charged electerizing machine, has been known to 



MAGNETISM. 117 

become a living or walking one, or galvanic battery ; 
giving out like the electric eel or the prime conductor of 
a machine, shocks to every thing with which it came in 
contact. But the human system has always been known 
as w r ell as other animals to be filled with electricity. In 
young persons, in dry cold weather, in winter, when 
the tone ot the system is good, the animation lively, and 
the circulation quick and energetic, the hair on the head 
of the young will stand erect, upon end, and become 
dishevelled, by it in a state of repulsion causing it like 
the twigs and leaves of the vegetable, or the iron filings 
upon the " repulsive pole of a magnet/ 7 to separate from 
each other and stand in every and any direction. Who, 
when a boy, has not amused himself by the sparks of 
electricity from the dog or cat's back, on rubbing it sim- 
ply with the hand so as to break up its equilibrium. 

This principle is, and can be tested, by every school 
boy throughout the city, daily, when the atmosphere i-> 
not too moist, in either summer or w r inter with the pre- 
ceding results of the body mentioned. If we insulate a 
person, and then gently pat or rub him between the 
shoulders for two or three minutes, with fur, and then 
fetch our finger in contact with any pari of the body 
thus insulated, a spark precisely like that from the elec- 
trizing machine will ensue, which will not only be dis- 
tinctly visible and heard all over the room, but will so 
contract the part, or produce a shock, as to become al- 
most insufferable. This may be produced by any one 
upon an other, at any time sufficiently severe for all 
medical purposes. Whoever attentively observes the 
operations of the system both in health and disease, na- 
tural and excited, cannot but confess its agency in the 
operations of life. 

Why do we with the diurnal revolution of the earth, 
which produces day and night, note a change in our 
strength and feelings I Why do we lay down at night 
to rest, to sleep] Is it not to accumulate something was- 



118 BAGG ON 

ted during thejday,? What is this something? We af- 
firm it to be electricity, magnetism ; that the brain or 
galvanic battery of the whole system, has expended du- 
ring the day. Why is it that a high latitude, as well as 
high lands, are calculated to produce inflammatory dis- 
eases, while in low latitudes, and low fenny lands pro- 
duce fever and agues, and other diseases from debility? 
Is it not owing to more electricity or oxygen in the at- 
mosphere in the one region, than the other 1 In what 
consists the great benefit of gestation in the open air, in 
long journies, for restoring health, but this principle ac- 
cumulated and changed by the different varieties conse- 
quent to those journies ? Is not electricity absolutely 
necessary to life ? Can an animal live in an atmosphere 
without it ? Why is it absorbed by the Jungs and given 
out throughout the whole system? Why is it that pre- 
ceding a thunder storm within a certain sphere of influ- 
ence, animals breathe with difficulty, and frequently 
pant laboriously, and after a few claps of thunder, and 
shocks of electricity or lightning, they can breathe with 
ease and freedom? It is owing to the want of that equi- 
librium in the electricities in atmospheric air, in the first 
instance, being wanting, and in the next place having 
been accomplished at the time of the shocks or light- 
nings, which are natures means to reproduce the equili- 
brium. Since the days of the immortal Franklin, it has 
been used more or less for the cure of disease. In what 
manner does it act ? This we shall explain when we 
come to speak of disease. In conclusion upon this branch 
of the subject, on reflection from our stock of facts, from 
the consideration that the whole system throughout, is a 
set and series of antagonizing organs, performed by an- 
tagonizing motions, by antagonizing forces, added to the 
phenomena of electricity produced by the electric eel and 
torpedo, and upon the human system ; that the whole 
system and every part of it has an absorbing and secre- 
ting surface ; that it will accommodate itself to almost 



MAGNETISM. 119 

any circumstance and condition by habit, together with 
the irregularity of the habits of sleeping and waking, 
heat and cold, pleasure and pain, poverty and sickness, 
fulness and inanition. What other principle for a day, 
yea for an hour, but that principle so mysteriously an- 
tagonized in itself between its fellow, so as at all times 
to tend to an equilibrium, and when gained, is as instant- 
ly broken up, could produce and sustain life 1 Could me- 
chanics, hydraulics, or chemistry, or all combined pro- 
duce if? Could any other principle in nature produce 
it but magnetism? Is there existing in nature any oth- 
er self moving equalizing principle but this 1 There is 
no other, or need be, for this is abundantly qualified to 
produce all the varied operations of nature. It is this 
principle that runs through all, and regulates and gives 
to it life and activity. 

It is that same principle which regulates all matter 
and all principles in mind as well as matter, and consti- 
tutes the principle on which is built the system or doc- 
trine of equilibrium — a doctrine on which depends the 
health of not only vegetables and animals, but the reg- 
ulation, health and stability of principles in religion, mo- 
rals, politics and law, as w^ell as trade and every thing 
else. There is no principle in nature but what has its 
poles, or extremes, and oscillates from one to the other, 
and back to the iquilibrium. Every artificial principle as 
well as natural, is built upon it. It is the cause of all ex- 
citements of body as well as mind. Every subject or 
system has its poles or extremes, and its equilibrium line. 
All the preaching from the pulpit upon religion and mo- 
rality may be, or ought to be reduced to two points or 
poles. There are but two manners or modes of con- 
verting sinners. The one to attract them to do good for 
the consolation it affords, by attracting them towards 
Heaven, by painting and portraying the goodness of 
God, his benovolence, the beauty of Heaven, its plei 
ures, consolations and happiness. The other by holding 



120 BAGG ON 

up the vengeance of God, hell, its blackness, torments 
and horrors, comparing one with the other in the mind; 
comparing God with the devil, man with both, and show- 
ing the difference ; the reward of one to induce sinners 
to repent, and the other course to frighten them to de- 
sist from evil. This is the base of all preaching. We 
cannot arrive at perfection ; we cannot act so but we 
shall fall infinitely below God. We should so act as to 
rise infinitely above the devil, and thereby elude the ex- 
treme of what is called " hell." The true course is to 
keep our positive pole towards God, and our negative 
one towards the devdl — and in our attractions and repul- 
sions towards one, and from the other, endeavor to have 
our conduct so regulated, at least as to attract us to 
Heaven, from their very affinity, and by the same law 
repel us from the devil and his so called flaming regions. 
Thus, virtue and vice both lie the same road, one could 
never be prized without a knowledge of the other. — 
They are but the extremes of a continuous line like the 
compass needle. 

The lawyer carries up his case to court, the parties 
are present before the Judge. The plaintiff affirms such 
and such premises; the defenant denies every word of it. 
The plaintiff then calls his witnesses to establish his po- 
sition ; the defendant then calls his to antagonize him in 
his proof. The Judge after hearing all, reduces them 
both in his mind to an equilibrium, by comparison, and 
judgment decides which side predominates in the scales 
of justice, and the case is thus disposed of. 

The Physician is called to a patient ; he knows that 
good health depends upon a just and proper balance of 
all the vessels and functions of the body, which state is 
called the equilibrium of the system. He examines the 
patient, and finds this equilibrium is broken up lst that ei- 
ther the centripetal or centrifugal force has got the bal- 
ance, one over the other, that in consequence other less- 
er equilibriums in other organs are broken up from these. 



MAGNETISM. 121 

He knows what effect should be produced to restore it. 
He knows what medicine will produce that effect. He 
s to work, reproduces the lost equilibrium of the ves- 
or forces in the particular organ, or whole system 
of organs, and the patient is restored and returns to a 
state of health. There are upon earth but two kinds of 
unmixed governments. Where one man governs the 
whole ; the other where the whole govern themselves. 
In both cases they are performed by agents. Every 
other government is but a mixture of these, and there- 
fore vary from a democracy down to an absolute mon- 
archy. A government composed of a part of each, like 
that of Great Britain would constitute an aristocracy. 

In our own government, a democracy, where the peo- 
ple govern themselves by their agents, we have certain 
prescribed rules and regulations for the action of all de- 
partments, called constitution and laws. These laws 
are construed by some in one manner and by some in 
another. Now if these agents, through ignorance, or 
through party influence transcend the laws, and thereby 
encroach upon the people's rights, or squander the pro- 
perty or money of the people, they arise in their majes- 
ty, one party takes one side, and the other the other ; 
one party justifies their agents, the other condemns ; 
one party holds up another agent as better qualified by 
intelligence, honesty and other requisites to do justice to 
the people. The friends of one party by eloquence and 
persuasion attract individuals from the ranks of the oth- 
er, until it becomes the strongest ; the Ins are turned 
out, and others are elected. Thus the majority govern, 
an equilibrium is produced, government becomes heal- 
thy, and our happy government is thus perpetuated. 

It will be seen that the equilibrium is formed through 
the medium of the ballot box, from the extremes of both 
parties. Parties I say, for parties are as necessary as 
the questions which create them. Every question has 
two sides or extremes, a positive and a negative one. 



122 BAGG ON 

From the very nature of things then, there must be a 
party to correspond to those sides. Questions having 
philosophically but two sides, no third party can ever 
long exist. We might go on, and show from the theo- 
ry of our government, that its formation was philosoph- 
ically correct from our theory, from its executive, judi- 
cial and legislative departments, to operate as checks 
and balances, one as helping the other to restore lost 
equilibriums, or continue those already produced, but 
our limits will not permit. Trade depends upon this 
principle for its healthy action. The prices of all com- 
modities are ahvays more or less fluctuating from the 
extremes to a state of equilibrium between the two. — 
This depends upon two causes only ; the plentifulness 
or scarcity of the article, on the one hand, and the cir- 
culating medium on the other, by which it is priced or 
measured. If the price of an article from want of cul- 
tivation, bad seasons, or manufacture is raised to an ex- 
treme above its ordinary relative value and price, the 
agriculturist, the manufacturer, or mechanic bends his 
energies to raise, produce or manufacture the article, 
until it becomes as much too low as it w T as too high. 

From self interest then, he ceases to produce it alto- 
gether, or in such quantities, and directs his time and 
resources to some other object and article, and an equi- 
librium in quantity and a corresponding one in value and 
price succeed from these extremes. 

But the most common fluctuations of prices especial- 
ly in this country, have been caused by the circulating 
medium, by which all prices are measured. That cii- 
culating medium has been paper money, having no in- 
trinsic value, and therefore instead of producing in trade, 
health or an annual equilibrium, has contributed, by its 
manner of operation, to hinder those from taking place; 
or in other words, has been the direct cause of all our 
commercial embarrassments from this alone. The 
manner by which it was produced was from its capa- 



MAGNETISM. V2U 

bility of being expanded and contracted from and to the 
centre, operating like a lever upon the circumference 
with double, triple, and quadruple force, and there- 
by producing daily, weekly and monthly, extremes of 
prices as opposite as the poles ; and thus instead of con- 
tributing to produce an equilibrium in prices, dei\ 
their taking place. To day it is said to be worth the 
face of it, dollar for dollar. To-morrow it is in the hands 
of a receiver, and declared not worth a groat. Thus 
then, an equilibrium from simple imitation of intrinsic 
value, the shadow for the substance, can never take 
place, is unphilosophical, ruinous to trade, and should 
therefore be discarded. On the contrary, if the circula- 
ting medium have intrinsic value, like the constitutional 
one of the nation, gold and silver, it can never be ex- 
panded and contracted, made plenty or scarce at will, 
and therefore raise and depress prices as corresponding- 
ly sudden. And although there may be slight fluctua- 
tions during the year from bad seasons, pestilence, wars, 
bad government, excitements of the people, or the influ- 
ence from foreign nation-', it will annually produce that 
equilibrium in prices that constitutes the health of trade. 
Like water from irs weight and resistance finding its own 
level, gold and silver, raise and depress the prices of 
all commodities to its own standard or level, and thus 
produce that equilibrium in the extremes, on which the 
health of trade depends for individual and national pros- 
perity and happiness. In view then, of this principle. 
and thus applied, it will be seen as a general rule that it 
we depend upon trade for our living, prosperity and live- 
lihood that the true course is, when the extremes oi , 
res are loo low, purchase, and on the contrary when too 
high, in the other extreme, sell. By following strictly 
this course or not, agreeable to this general principle 
will make the difference through life in the pecuniary 
affairs of an individual or nation, of poverty or riches. 
These are some of the different principles and subjecta 
12 



124 BAGG ON 

in the affairs of human life, in the condition of man to 
elucidate the general principle, or doctrine of equilibri- 
um throughout all matter as well as in mind. The cat- 
alogue might be swelled to almost infinitude, at least to 
an extent corresponding with the variations and combi- 
nations of both mind and matter for it is general and 
universal. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FOOD, NUTRITION AND ASSIMULATION. 

Although there is great variety in the form of the food 
of man, it is composed of but few elements. By care- 
ful analysis of the best of our most modern chemists, it 
is made up of four ^elements or simple substances, oxy- 
gen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. The three former 
are the most constant ingredients, for although nitrogen 
is to be found m such u products as pease, lentils and 
cabbage, it is not a component of starch, sugar or ba- 
con." The food after having been masticated and re- 
ceived into the stomach, is decomposed, which is but a 
separation of these elements from each other. The de- 
composition is not completed in the stomach or bowels, 
but there commences, is not completed till it is mixed 
with the blood. Throughout the whole track of the al- 
imentary canal, not only the lacteals absorbents, secern- 
ents, but in the arteries and veins, attractions and re- 
pulsions, compositions and decompositions, are constant- 
ly going on not only between the tissues of the body and 
blood, but between all the solids, liquids and aeriform 
substances of the body, external air, and food received. 
This constitutes the metamorphose of Lebeig and oth- 
ers ; the former of whose system although rich in facts, 
is yet so complicated and confusing from the multiplici- 
ty of his positions that they are of no use except to give 



MAGNETISM. 125 

us facts to corroborate us in our general principle of at- 
traction and repulsion. 

We find also that the components of the system, so- 
lids, liquids and gasses, are also made up of these same 
elementary substances, together with some few oth- 
ers. That consequently the blood which is the immedi- 
ate product of the food as well as other fluids, is also 
composed of these elements. That they in the form of 
chyle are poured into, and mingled with the blood, and 
thrown over the whole system, to every part on which 
they act, and are acted upon, and then as w T e have be- 
fore seen, returned to the heart. In the passage of these 
elements in the form ol chyle, blood, and other fluids 
throughout the system, commencing at the gullet, they 
attract new elements or compounds, in the form of sali- 
va, from the glands and other surfaces, and in return, 
give out in their course from the blood, these elements 
for their nutrition and sustenance. Having traversed 
every part of the system of circles from centre to cir- 
cumference, what is not attracted for the support of the 
individual organs, together with what is imparted to the 
blood in return from those organs (except what is sepa- 
rated in the lungs, capillaries and kidneys, and repelled 
and expelled as noxious,) is again returned and again 
renewed by these elements of food. What effects take 
place we know not at present, except by the agency of 
some imponderable antagonized m itself, and so opera- 
ting upon the whole body that it is endowed with an 
aptitude or capability of attracting such elements or 
agents for its use as is needful and necessary, and re- 
pelling others ; and that every organ being differently 
constituted in its texture and arrangement of its ele- 
ments, has the same capacity to attract out of these el- 
ements, materials, and arrange them into its own organ- 
ized texture whether solid, liquid or aeriform, and that 
the three different classes of matter are by these means 
and operations, constantly changing from one to the oth- 



/ 



126 BAGG ON 

er, and vice versa ; and that sometimes by the union of 
these and other elements, other and more complicated 
compounds are produced. 

What is the peculiar use and effect of carbon and ni- 
trogen in the system besides contributing to sustain the 
solid parts, we cannot so well understand, as w T e can ox- 
ygen and hydrogen, for persons have lived for months, 
yea for yeais, without taking in their food either. From 
the experiments of our best chemists, we find that car- 
bon after having traversed the whole assimulating and 
circulatory systems, is thrown off, or repelled by the 
lungs and skin, in a volume in direct proportion to the 
oxygen received. We know also that the liver secretes 
bile from the blood which is eighty per cent, carbon, 
that carbon colors the blood as that in the veins dark, 
and that oxygen restores its color to a florid red through 
the medium of the lungs. We know also that venous 
blood has to pass as it were, through the custom house 
of the liver, before it is returned to the heart ; and that 
arterial blood has to undergo the same operation through 
the kidneys, during which process they attract, secrete 
and repel, along with oxygen and hydrogen with other 
salts, nitrogen. Thus then, we see that these import- 
ant organs or functions of lungs, liver, capillaries and 
kidneys, as well as all the minor glands, are attracting 
and repelling surfaces. 

The lungs attract oxygen gas, and repel carbonic 
acid. The liver attracts a material from venous blood, 
and repels bile. The kidneys attract arterial blood, and 
repel the compound called urine, and the skin attracts 
arterial blood, from which it repels the venous ; it also 
like the lungs absorbs oxygen, and repels carbonic acid, 
water and other acids, in the form of perspiration. — 
Now as carbon seems to have so great an agency in the 
motions of the human system by attraction and repul- 
sion, by its being a constituent of all the food of man as 
well as of all his organized compounds, solid, liquid and 




MAGNETISM. 127 

aeriform, and as the bile in the track of the alimentary 
\ canal is reabsorbed and passes again into the blood, and 
is diffused thereby again throughout the system, it seems 
with oxygen and hydrogen to have a share in the pro- 
duction of animal heat. 

The tissues of the body, as well as the blood and 
other fluids, are composed of these elements. The blood 
is composed of them in nearly the following proportions 
of each, in one hundred parts : 

Carbon, 51,96 

Hydrogen, 7,25 

Nitrogen, 15,07 

Oxygen, 22 

Ashes, 4,42 

The tissues vary but a little from this arrangement 
or proportion from these elements. 

It will be thus seen that carbon bears a much larger 
share in the proportion among these elements, in the 
compound, than nitrogen; for animal albumen is made 
up of something like in one hundred parts of 

Carbon, * 53,850 

Hydrogen, 6,983 

Nitrogen, 16,673 

Oxygen, ------ 22,00 

This albumen constitutes the serum of blood, and the 
fibrin which constitutes the hard part of blood or cres- 
samentum, contains 

Carbon, 53,671 

Hydrogen, 6,878 

Nitrogen, 15,72 

Oxygen, 23,68 

While albumen from eggs contains, in one hundred 
parts: 

Carbon, 53,72 

Hydrogen 7,53 

Nitrogen, 13,60 

Oxygen, 23,13 

12* 



128 BAGG ON 

And from the yolk of eggs, 

Carbon, 53,45 

Hydrogen, 7,66 

Nitrogen, 13,34 

Oxygen, - - 25,55 

The middle membrane of the arteries contains, 
Carbon, - - - - - - 53,720 

Hydrogen, 7,790 

Nitrogen, 15,360 

Oxygen, - 23,811 

The composition of lactic acid or that of milk, is 
Carbon, 45,92 } 

Hydrogen, 6,11 > 100 and no Nitrogen. 

Oxygen, 48,97 ) 

The composition of the chief constituants of the urine 

of man and animals, according to Lebeig, is 

Carbon, - 36,083 

Hydrogen, - 2,441 

Nitrogen, .... 33,461 

Oxygen, - - - - 28J26 

Composition of the flesh of beef, according to Playfair, 

contains 

Carbon, .... 52,500 

Hydrogen, - 7,886 

Nitrogen, .... 15,214 

Oxygen, - - - - 24,310 

Composition from the buds of germinating potatoes, ac- 
cording to Blanchet, is 

Carbon, .... 60,26 

Hydrogen, - - - 5,50 

Nitrogen, - - - - 1,30 

Oxygen, - - - 32,74 

Composition of Quinine, according to Lebeig, 

Carbon, .... 75,76 

Hydrogen, - - - 7,52 

Nitrogen, - - - - 6,11 

Oxygen, .... 8,62 

> 



MAGNETISM. 




VZ % 3 


Composition of hog's lard, 






Carbon. - 


- 


79,098 


Hydrogen, - 


- 


11,140 


Oxygen, - 


- 


9.76 


Composition of mutton fat, 






Carbon, - 


- 


79,990 


Hydrogen, - 


- 


11,700 


Oxygen, - 


- 


9,304 


And the composition of human fat, 






Carbon, - 


- 


79.000 


Hydrogen, - - 


- 


11,416 


Oxygen, - - - 


- 


9,584 


Composition of cane sugar, 






Carbon, .- 


- 


42,251 


Hydrogen, - 


- 


6,328 


Oxygen, - 


- 


51,315 


Starch, which forms a large share 


of our 


vegetable 


food, is composed of 






Carbon, 


- 


44,26 


Hydrogen, - 


- 


6,70 


Oxygen, ■;,.:- 


- 


49,09 



This analysis is from wheat, and although starch from 
the different substances, such as potatoes, peas, beans, 
lentils, rice, rye, horse chestnut, buckwheat, roots and 
seeds, vary a fraction: this is the general analysis of 
starch. 

The leaves of that shrub called tea, and the seed call- 
ed coifee, are identical in their constituents of elemen- 
tary principles, which consist of carbon, hydrogen and 
oxygen, [Lebeig]. Thus then we find that all food, 
animal and vegetable^ is either composed of carbon, 
hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen; but that the greatest 
share of food is made up of carbon, hydrogen and 
oxygen, and that when it does form a constituent, it is 
in a smaller proportion than the other elements. It ajv 
pears then, that the human system is made up and com- 
posed of these simple elements, arranged by the ma£- 



130 BAGG ON 

netic fluids in endless variety, like the various figures of 
a kaleidoscope, of forms, and that digestion is nothing 
more or less than a decomposition of these elements of 
the food, which we have seen are composed of these in 
almost the same varying ratios, and assimulation and 
nutrition the carrying to and from the various functions, 
organs and tissues, whereby their attractions and repul- 
sions their elements combine and separate and thereby 
sustain and support the system. Besides contributing 
to form the blood, juices, and solid tissues of the human 
system, what is the effect of carbon and nitrogen 1 We 
find the bile is nearly seventy per cent, carbon, and that 
the urine contains the largest proportion of nitrogen of 
ail other compounds. 

Does the liver secrete the excess of negative mag- 
netic matter, and the kidneys the excess of positive 
magnetic matter] In the present state of our knowl- 
edge, it is hard to determine with regard to these sub- 
stances or elements. We know that nitrogen forms a 
large proportion of the atmospheric air of our globe; 
that it permeates the pores of the skin and membranes, 
and forms a constituent of the blood and tissues; and 
that the seeming excess is thrown off by the kidneys. 
Does it act as it is supposed to do in atmospheric air, to 
simply give mechanical form or support] or does it in 
some manner contribute to produce repulsion from its 
elasticity as a medicine? 

We know that carbon, besides being a large constitu- 
ent of the food of vegetables, is absorbed by them during 
the day and repelled during the night; that it traverses 
every part of the animal in the passage of the blood 
throughout the system, and that it is repelled by the 
lungs, skin and kidneys. Now the unceasing tendency 
towards an equilibrium of the magnetic fluids, from their 
extremes, would seem to require a_point or line of union. 
Does carbon constitute that point? Does it act, as it 
were, like a mediator, and assist to produce the equi- 






MAGNETISM. 131 

librium between the oxygen and hydrogen gasscs in 
their equilibrium, in the formation of water! And if 
so. i to break up that equilibrium, 

or ■ ! Does not carb«.>n stand at the 

half of attraction to facilitate or produce an 

lilibrium, and nil n agent to break it up. 

a to produce repulsion ! 

y where presence in the system, and 

yetable products, as well as in the growth of them. 
I that we can not make a permanent nu 
iron, and are obliged to use steel, which is rendered 
h by the addition and union of carbon with iron. 
We know that carbon is antagonized to nitr : 
variety of ways, such as gravity and elasticity, besides 
many others. We find that every magnet has its j 
and its equinoctial line. Does c arbo n contribute to this 
equinoctial line, and nitrogen to the extremes I Carbon 
and hydrogen are in extremes oi opposition in many 
compounds. They are in extremes in the principle of 
volatilization. Carbon is the hardest substance in nature 
to volatilize, and hydrogen the easiest, and can not be 
-ed. Although there is an affinity between carbon 
and hydrogen, and they form many compounds, yet the 
affinity of hydrogen for oxygen is vastly superior to it, 
and will take it from certain compounds in certain pro- 
portions, This great affinity between them, their ap- 
rance in the compound called water, their refracting 
powers, and their great influence and agency in the de- 
composition of all substances through the medium of the 
compound blow-pipe, thus imitating perfectly and com- 
pletely the poles of the galvanic battery in effect, as 
well as appearance upon tne organs of sense, with va- 
rious other considerations not less analogous and im- 

sing, inforce upon us the conviction of the fact of 
theif being both compounds; the one of oxygep and 

native magnetism, and the other of hydrogen and 

jitive magnetism. Can wc not then discover that 



132 



BAGG ON 



throughout the system, upon the solids, liquids and gasses, 
through the operation of these magnetic fluids, changes 
are constantly going on in these elements, and when 
attraction prevails, cold or diminished temperature takes 
place, and when repulsion, heat or an increase of tem- 
perature is the result, and all from this principle antag- 
onized in itself. Digestion has hitherto been considered 
a complicated and laborious process, requiring great 
muscular force from the muscular coats of the stomach. 
A kind of grinding triturating process; but it is not so. 
It is simply a decomposition, or separation of the ele- 
ments from each other, and an assimulation of them to 
the various organs and tissues of the body, that stand 
in need of them, and therefore in the round of the circu- 
lation attract them from the blood, and give out at the 
same time, in exchange, some of their own. The ap- 
petency and satiety of which depend upon the motion 
of the magnetic fluids, produced by attraction and re- 
pulsion, by the light of which we may see how the 
temperature of the body is kept up, equalized and pre- 
served, as well in the torrid as the frigid zone, as '■'well 
in summer and winter as in spring and autumn; attrac- 
tion producing contraction and cold, or diminished tem- 
perature, and repulsion an increase of temperature, or 
the sensation of heat. It will be admitted that the effect 
of all food is to produce motion, thought, sensation and 
heat, that is, to produce life, which consists simply in 
these phenomena. Ether, nitrous oxide, oxygen gas, 
brandy and water, as well as other alcoholic solutions, 
produce motion, heat, sensation and thought, and not 
only so, but much quicker and more intensely than com- 
mon food. Now will the sticklers for the old theory of 
digestion, please tell us how many hundred pounds pow- 
er it takes to grind down and triturate these above men- 
tioned and other kindred diffusible stimulents. Surely all 
can easily see that digestion is a simple separation, 
throughout the whole digestive, absorbent and circula- 



MAGNETISM. 1 33 

tory circles of these elements from each other. Alcohol 
then, operates as well as food to keep up the flame of 
life, precisely as it does, or would, to keep up a flame 
out of the body when set on fire in the atmospheric air. 
**The lamp of life," is a very common expression; and 
is a very just and appropriate one, for both are produc- 
ed in the same manner, by the same materials or ele- 
ments, and are governed by the same law. Combustion 
then, may be compared to digestion; in both it is a sim- 
decomposition of a compound substance, separating 
its elements, and forming new combinations. The heat 
of the system is kept up and sustained by the attrac- 
tions and repulsions, decompositions and recombinations 
between the same elements, that with fuel or food in 
atmospheric air, heat is produced and continued, to wit: 
carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, with nitrogen. Combus- 
tion is nothing but a series of powerful and active at- 
tractions and repulsions between the above elements or 
substances. Decomposition, whether in the stomach or 
other parts of the system, repels; and its union with the 
various tissues of the body, is precisely the same process. 
in the one, the fiame of heat is produced; in the other, 
the flame of life. The one external; the other internal. 
Oxygen has erroneously been called a supporter of com- 
bustion, to the exclusion of all the rest; for hydrogen 
and carbon both mutually contribute to the phenomena 
of these attractions and repulsions as much so as 
oxygen. 

To besure oxygen unites with more substances in na- 
ture than carbon ; but hydrogen is as everywhere pre- 
sent as oxygen. Alcohol and other diffusible stimulants 
stand the same relation to quickness and want of per- 
manency of excitement in the system, that they do to 
other fuel in combustion in external air. Both are fleet- 
ing and transient, and destitute of that permanent dura- 
ble action, which is produced by more solid food or fuel. 
Many just, striking and analogous comparisons might 



134 BAGG ON 

with increasing interest be drawn between the two, to 
further and more fully elucidate the subject ; but our 
limits forbid. We have shown in addition to the human 
system being formed double, that the whole system of 
circles, from the digestive and alimentary, up to the last, 
but most important of the brain and nerves, are perfor- 
med, on minute anatomical investigation, by a system of 
antagonizing vessels and organs, and that one side was 
the repository of positive magnetic fluid, and the other 
for negative ; that the food is made up of lour elements, 
which by the operation of these, forming a variety of 
compounds, produced by their action the magnetic flu- 
ids, which constituted life. These circles operated on, 
and operating upon the food, are so many cognate sys- 
tems forming a whole, which generated and eliminated 
from the food the pores, lungs and so forth, like so ma- 
ny galvanic batteries, the magnetic fluids, which is ac- 
cumulated in the blood and sent by the arteries to the 
brain, which gland secretes them sufficiently refined and 
sublimated for the operations of mind and muscular mo- 
tion. This accumulation then, from the series of cir- 
cles, perform by the action of the magnetic fluids, from 
the brain through the medium of its nervous appenda- 
ges, all the phenomena of mind and body. The brain 
then, the organ of mind thus relatively situated, the 
grand centre of all the circles of the system, stands as 
a monarch to the whole receiving support and susten- 
ance from all, but governing and dispensing law through- 
out the system. This system thus animated, moved and 
controlled by the brain, is very analogous to the circles 
of the planetary system, moved and controlled by the 
sun ; as well as the vegetating system of circles upon its 
surface. Every system in nature from the sun itself, 
down to the lowest vegetable, has an innate propensity 
to beget, and propagate something from itself, in image 
of itself. From the annual and diurnal revolutions of 
the earth, it would seem to have been sent off from the 



MAGNETISM. 135 

bosom of the sun in a tangent between the mutual cen- 
trifugal and centripetal forces of that magnetic lumina- 
ry, and that it has preserved its motion, and imitated in 
its rotation, its parent fountain, since, and that it was 
formed in degrees or circles, as mentioned in (chapter 
xiv.) on geological formations. 

The circulation of the blood in the human system is 
performed in the same manner that the diurnal and an- 
nual motions of the earth are produced, and by the same 
forces, and on the same principle. The heart is the 
centre of the circulating system. It is a solid, and the 
blood a fluid. They are both in the positive state, and 
by the law of magnetism, from the mutual repulsion, the 
biood is repelled to the lungs, and thereby throwing off 
carbonic acid, and imbibing oxygen, is changed from a 
positive to a negative state, from an equilibrium between 
it and that function, and by the same law that repelled 
it from the heart to the lungs, is repelled in turn by that 
organ and attracted by the heart, where again arrived 
art; an equilibrium again takes place, and it is repelled 
all over the system to every part of the circumference, 
the capillary system ; which is a second lungs, is there 
changed by the repulsion of carbonic acid and attraction 
ot' oxygen through the pores, from the atmosphere, is 
repelled by that system, attracted to, and through the 
kidneys, parts with its redundancy of negative magnet- 
ic matter, in the form of nitrogen and other salts, and is 
again attracted back to the right heart ; and after again 
going to the lungs and liver, (which we omitted to men- 
tion above) the latter of which separates the excess of 
positive magnetic matter in the form of bile or carbon, 
and acids, is again returned, and thus by these changes 
from positive to negative by attraction and repulsion, is 
this ceaseless round of circulation produced, till death. 
Thus, like the motion of the earth from the change of 
light from a positive to a negative state, by the opera- 
tion of ponderable matter upon the magnetic fluids, is 
13 



f 



136 BAGG ON 

the motion of the circulation produced from the same 
changes in the lungs, and capillaries. When the cur- 
rent is strongest towards the earth, we have day, light, 
and warmth, and when it is strongest towards the sun, 
night, darkness and cold. So also when the current is 
stronger towards the surface, the system is increased in 
temperature, action, motion and thought, and when it is 
stronger towards the center, it is diminished in all these 
characteristics of body as well as mind. 

It will be remembered throughout that we make heat 
to depend upon repulsion, in the system, and cold upon 
attraction ; and the tendency to an equilibrium of these, 
is the simple cause why the uniform temperature of 98 
Farenheit, is maintained as well in summer as winter, 
day as night, or under the scorching sun of the equator 
as the frigid zone. Is there any other principle but this 
self equalizing one of magnetism, that could produce and 
continue the motion of the earth, the health and temper- 
ature of the animated machine, or of vegetation for an 
hour 1 Mark the perfect coincidence between the ef- 
fects upon the earth, of day and night, heat and cold, 
with the same effects upon the body and mind, as well 
as sleeping and waking. Each have a diurnal and an- 
nual revolution. So also has the vegetable creation. — 
What affects one, affects the other ; the cause is the 
same. Thus truths always agree, but errors never. — 
It not only disagrees with truth, but with itself. The 
test for truth then is attraction, and of error repulsion. 
By strictly adhering to this simple rule, we can never 
be mistaken. We have compared the human system to 
an electric machine, to a galvanic battery, and to the 
solar system, not inappropriately. The comparison 
might justly be extended to the steam engine, which per- 
forms its mechanical operations, or motions, by attrac- 
tion and repulsion, producing contraction and expansion. 
Even the machinery itself, furnace, boiler condenser, 
tubes, valves and all, might be compared with the sto- 



MAGNETISM. 137 

mach, lungs, vessels and valves in the arteries and veins, 
and other organs of the system. The one is but a little 
more complicated than the other. Who is not forcibly 
struck with the analogy of the puffing and blowing of a 
high pressure steam engine, and the function of the lungs 
of man 1 The great and only material difference is, that 
one is animal and has a brain of its own, impelled by a 
portion of immortality, for an engineer, and the other a 
machine, constructed by man, and requiring an engin- 
eer to superintend its operations. The principle of lo- 
comotion in both are the same, and governed by the 
same law, attraction and repulsion. We have seen that 
the earth is rendered healthy or otherwise by the sun. 
It is said to be in a healthy state when its magnetic or 
electric fluids are in a state of equilibrium. When the 
equilibrium is disturbed or broken up, we become sen- 
sible of its being reproduced by a commotion in atmos- 
pheric air, denoted by thunder and lightning, and is made 
more apparent by rain descending or being attracted 
from the clouds to the earth. Precisely so with the hu- 
man system. The equilibrium cannot long be broken 
up between the magnetic forces, before an effort is made 
to reproduce it, and fevers are the result, denoted by 
cold chills alternated with hot flashes, and the equilibri- 
um is made apparent by a copious flow of water from 
both skin and kidneys. A storm then in atmospheric 
air with lightning and thunder, stands the same relation 
to the earth, that a fit of fever and ague does to the hu- 
man system, both the result of an effort of the magnet- 
ic forces to regain their lost equilibrium. 

The moon so effects the earth as to produce an at- 
traction and repulsion, or an ebbing and flowing of the 
waters upon its surface. It afco so effects the human 
system as to produce periodical results of attraction and 
repulsion in the same regular manner. No one howe- 
ver, will deny the great effect of planetary influence up- 
on the body and mind of man ; for spring and fall, sum- 



138 BAGG ON 

mer and winter, day and night, extra of all other con- 
siderations will prove it. If there be planetary influ- 
ence upon the human system, how is it possible to pro- 
duce an effect, except by the agency of the magnetic 
fluids. There can be no other. But to corroborate it 
still further, we will remark that the life of animals are 
in some species, entirely dependent upon it. Some an- 
imals live and thrive on nothing but air ; while others 
live and grow on nothing but water. Of those that live 
on the latter, may be reckoned the various catalogue of 
fishes, tad poles and leeches. Rondlet kept a silver fish 
in pure water for three years, and at the end of that pe- 
riod it had gained and grown as large as the glass globe 
that contained it. 

Various other classes of fish like the carp, gold fish, 
and pike, have a similar power to live in that element. 
There are various insects, which live on the nectar of 
flowers, while others are sustained upon air alone, like 
the snail and chameleon, which have been known to live 
upon it for years. Dr. Good informs us that Gorman 
asserts that spiders will live upon air for months, and 
that Mr. Baker tells us in the philosophical transactions 
that he had a beetle which lived m a glass, confined for 
three years without food^ and then fled awayT)y acci- 
dent " The larves of ants are not only supported by 
air, but actually increase in bulk, and undergo their met- 
amorphose without any other food. The luminous cen- 
tipede which has been seen illuminating the air, aud falls 
into a ship one thousand miles from shore, lives on air. 
Lizards and especially the newt species, have been found 
imbedded in chalk rocks apparently dead and fossilized 
but have assumed living action on exposure to the at- 
mosphere. The experiment has frequently been tried 
on toads for two years, and on rattle and other snakes, 
and vipers, for years without change in their bulk. A 
friend assures me that on getting a portrait taken and 
framed, by accident a spider crawled beneath the glass 



and quietly seated himself upon the forefinger where 
he was permitted to remain twenty years, when on 
removing the glass, his majesty awoke, rubbed his eyes, 
and marched off triumphantly with a dignity proportion- 
ed to his age. But living upon air and water is not con- 
fined to fishes and vipers. History shows us that man 
and other animals can, and do exist without food for a 
long period of time upon air or water, or both, such as 
in cases of madness where a patient absolutely refuses 
to take food, to eat or drink. There is a most extraor- 
dinary case recorded of Cecelia D. Ridgeway, preserv- 
ed among the records in the Tower of London, which 
states that in the reign of Edward HI., having been con- 
demned for the murder or her husband, she remained 
for forty days without either food or drink. This was 
ascribed to a miracle, and the King condescended in 
consequence to grant a pardon. The Cambridgeshire 
farmer's wife, who about twenty years ago was buried 
under a snow storm, continued ten or twelve days with- 
out tasting any thing but a little snow which covered 
her. In the Edinburgh Medical Essays for 1720, Dr. 
Eccles makes mention of a beautiful young lady "about 
sixteen years of age," who in consequence of the sud- 
den death of art indulgent father, was thrown into a 
state of tetanus or rigidity of all the muscles of the bo- 
dy, and especially those of deglutition, so violent as to 
render her incapable of swallowing for two long and dis- 
tinct periods of time. In the first instance for thirty- 
four, and in the second which occurred shortly after* 
wards for fifty four days; during all which time her first 
and second fastings, she declared, says Dr. Eccles, she 
had no sense of hunger or thirst, and when they were 
over, she had not lost much of her flesh. In our own 
days, says Dr. Good, we have a most striking instance, 
in the case of Ann Moore, of Tutbury in Staffordshire, 
who in consequence of great and increasing difficulty in 
swallowing, at first limited herself daily to a very small 
13* 






140 BAGG Otf 

portion of bread alone, and on March 17th, 1807, re- 
linquished even that, allowing herself only occasionally 
a little tea or water ; and in the ensuing September, 
pretended to abstain altogether from liquids as well as 
solids. From the account of Mr. Granger, a medical 
practitioner of reputation, who saw her about two years 
afterward, she appears to have suffered very consider- 
ably either from her abstinence,. or from the general 
morbid heat which induced her to use abstinance. He 
says, indeed that her mental faculties were entire, her 
voice moderately strong, and that she could join in con- 
versation without undergoing any apparent fatigue; but 
he says also that. her pulse was feeble and slow, that she 
was altogether confined to her bed, that her limbs were 
emaciated, that convulsions attacked her on so slight an 
excitement as surprise, and that she had then very late- 
ly lost the use of her limbs, Hildanus and Haller have 
collected cases of much longer duration of abstinence, 
some of them extending to not less than sixteen years. 
In the numbers of the Philosophical Transactions (Lon- 
don) there are found numerous cases of the same kind, 
apparently drawn up with the most scrupulous caution, 
and supported by the best kind of concurrent testimony* 
In one of the earlier volumes, w r e meet with an ac- 
count of four men who w^ere compelled to subsist upon 
water for twenty-four days, in consequence of their 
having been buried in a deep excavation, by the fall of 
a superincumbent body of earth, under which they were 
working, and its being that length of time before they 
were extricated. The water they drank was from a 
spring at hand, and they drank it freely, but tasted no- 
thing else. A still more e xtraordinary case is related 
in the same Journal for the year 1742, and consists of 
the history of a young man, who, at the age of sixteen, 
from having drank freely of cold water when in violent 
peispiration, was thrown into an inflamatory fever, from 
wfyich he escaped with great difficulty, and with such a 



MAGNETISM, 141 

dislike to food of all kinds, that for eighteen years (at 
the time this account was drawn up) he had never 
tasted any thing but water. He uniformly enjoyed 
good health, and appears to have had ejections but sel* 
dom." A multitude of hypotheses have been offered 
to account for these wonderful anomalies, says Dr. 
Good, but none of them do it satisfactorily; and I con- 
fess my utter ignorance upon the subject* Water ap- 
pears to be necessary in most, but not in all cases, for 
Hildanus, though somewhat imaginative, but honest in 
the main, assures us that Eva Flegen, who had fasted 
for sixteen years, when he saw her in 1612, had ab- 
stained entirely from liquids as well as solids; and in 
the case of impacted toads, especially those found in 
blocks of closely crystallized marble, the moisture they 
receive must often be very insignificant. Perhaps one 
of the most singular cases, and at the same time, the 
best authenticated on record, is that of Janet M'Leod, 
published in the Phylosophical Transactions by Dr. 
Mackenzie. She was at this time thirty-three years of 
age, unmarried, and from the age of fifteen had had 
various epileptic paroxysms, which had considerably 
shaken her frame, rendered the elevator muscles of the 
eyelids paralytic, so that she could only see by lifting 
the lids up, and produced so rigid a locked jaw that her 
mouth could rarely be forced open by any contrivance, 
She had lost very nearly her power of speech and de- 
glutition, and w r ith this, all desire to eat or drink. Her 
lower limbs were retracted towards her body; she was 
entirely confined to her bed; slept much, and had seldom 
any other ejections than periodical discharges of blood, 
apparently from the lungs, which was chiefly thrown out 
by the nostrils. During a very few intervals of relax- 
ation, she was prevailed upon, with great difficulty, to 
put a few crumbs of bread, comminuted in the hand, 
into her mouth, together with a little water, sucked from 
her own hand, and in one or two instances* a little gruel; 



142 BAGG ON 

but even at these attempts, almost the whole was re- 
jected* On two occasions, also, after a total abstinence 
of many months, she made signs of wishing to drink 
some water, which was given her immediately. On 
the first occasion, the whole seemed to be returned from 
her mouth; but she Was greatly refreshed by having it 
rubbed on her throat. On the second occasion, she 
drank oft* a pint at once, but could not be prevailed up- 
on or forced to drink any more, notwithstanding that 
her father had now fixed a wedge between her teeth, 
two of which were hereby broken out. .With these 
exceptions, however, she seems to have passed upwards 
of four years without either liquids or solids of any kind, 
or even an appearance of swallowing. She lay for the 
most part like a log of wood, with a pulse scarcely per- 
ceptible from feebleness, but distinct and regular; her 
countenance was fresh; her features neither disfigured 
nor sunk; her bosom round and prominent, and her 
limbs not emaciated. Dr. Mackenzie watched her with 
occasional visits for eight or nine years, at the close of 
which period, she seems to have been a little improved* 
His narration is very precisely as well as minutely de- 
tailed, and previously to its being sent to the Royal So- 
ciety, was read over before the patient's parents, who 
were known to be persons of great Honesty; as also 
before the elder of the parish, who appears to have 
been an excellent man; and when sent, was accompa- 
nied by a certificate as to the general truth of the facts, 
signed by the minister of the parish, the sheriff-depute, 
and six other individuals of the neighborhood, of high 
character, and most of them justices of the peace* 
Yet with the freest use of water, what can we make 
of such cases upon any chain of chemical facts at pre- 
sent discovered? What can we make of it, even in 
conjunction with the use of air? The weight and solid 
contents of the body are derived chiefly from the prin- 
ciple which modern chemists denote carbon; yet neither 



MAGNETISM. 



143 



water nor air, when in a state of purity, contain a par- 
ticle of carbon; nor is it hitherto, by any means estab- 
lished, that even the nitrogen of the animal system is 
in any instance derived from the air, or introduced by 
the process of respiration; for the experiments upon 
this subject, so far as they go, are in a state of opposi- 
tion, and keep the question on a balance — factis contra- 
ria facta. Let us then confess our ignorance rather than 
attempt to be wise upon the base of conceit. All that 
we do know, is that bodies of all kinds are reducible to 
a few elementary principles, which appear to be un- 
changeable, and are certainly invisible; and that from 
different combinations and modifications of these proceeds 
every concrete and visible form; hence air itself, and 
water ; hence animal, vegetable and mineral substances. 
Air, therefore, and water, or either separately, may 
contain the rudimental materials of all the rest." Thus 
spake the learned and celebrated Dr. Good, to a London 
audience; one of the most learned and scientific men of 
the age. Had it been known at that time that the im- 
ponderables were identical; that they only presented to 
the organs of sense different sensations; that they were 
but the different variations of the magnetic fluids upon 
these sentient organs, his views would have been en- 
tirely different, and at no loss to determine the cause 
why animals could subsist comparatively without food, 
upon air or water, Aad he had positive proof that 
magnetism and electricity were the same principle, as 
we have at the present period, the problem would have 
been readily solved, and instead of declaring his igno- 
rance of the cause of animal life, would have opened a 
new field for his gigantic mental powers. Had he have 
known that water, which is formed of oxygen and hy- 
drogen, carried in its compound the two opposite elec- 
tricities, and that these were given out on their decom- 
position in their elements, it would readily have sug- 
gested the cause of life, and the rationale of their su[>- 







144 BAGG ON 

port from this element. In respect to the support of 
air, we can easily see, that made up as it is, of oxygen 
and nitrogen, with some carbon, in the form of carbonic 
acid gas, and hydrogen (for moisture is always present 
in the atmosphere) how these elements are attracted to 
the system through the lungs and pores of the skin, and 
unite with the same in the various tissues of the body, 
liberate the magnetic fluids, and thus contribute to sus- 
tain life. Thus these facts to sustain our position, crowd 
upon us on every side, and not only cheer us onward 
triumphantly, but lead us to believe that we are permit- 
ted to ascend in the chain of causes from earth, a link 
higher in the scale than we have hitherto been accus- 
tomed. Light is always present, and is always a stim- 
ulent to animals, as well as vegetables, is absorbed by 
all ponderable matter, enters into its combination, and 
produces heat, and thus would contribute to sustain life, 
Have we not clearly shown light to be the magnetic 
fluid, as well as the cause of stimulating the blade of 
grass, the bear, the dormouse, insects and creeping 
things into life, and animation in the spring] It must, 
from what we have seen and shown, be conceded that 
a large share of animals, insects, &c, are sustained by 
air or water alone. If some are sustained, can not all 
be 1 When and where did nature ever work by partial 
laws 1 



CHAPTER VII. 

CONNECTION OF MIND AND BODY FORMATION OF MIND. 

The mind and body, we have seen, are so intimately 
blended and united, that when one is operated upon, 
the other is affected also. Indeed, we can have no 
mind without organization, the vigor and capacity of 
which is much modified and characterized by it. The 



MAGNETISM. 145 

brain, which is the organ of mind, varies in capacity in 
different nations, and with individuals of the same na- 
tion; so much so, that no two individuals are in all re- 
spects exactly alike. The mind of man has for ages 
been considered a unit, or as manifesting itself as a whole, 
until the days of Gall, Spurzheim, Combe, and others, 
and recently by the iight of magnetism, as applied to 
animals and to the mind itself, we know that it is made 
up of a compound of different organs, characterized by 
different manifestations of brain; and that these are but 
so many poles of the great central magnet — the brain; 
or as so many little cognate magnets, controlled and 
operated upon by the great one. This magnet, the brain, 
has a capacity over other magnets in matter of having 
an aptitude or capacity of setting itself in operation, 
engineering its own operations, and controlling its own 
motions, as w T ell as the motions of the body. This en- 
gineering faculty is mysteriously superadded by the 
cause of causes, and is termed Spirit, Essence, Soul; 
but we term it Will. This is what constitutes man a 
free agent, and has the power or faculty to act, and to 
be acted upon. It is therefore both active and passive. 
That particular state or condition which characterizes 
its passive state, we term sensation. That particular 
state or condition which characterizes its active state, 
we term volition. The former regards impressions 
from without, as a prime cause of its change; the lat- 
ter from within, as a cause of impulse. The former is 
produced by attraction: the latter by repulsion. This 
is the only fundamental law of mind. All our original 
ideas are obtained by sensatiop. All our actions and 
conduct flow from volition. 

An object strikes the senses, it produces by a change 
a certain arrangement of the little globules of the brain. 
This arrangement is either pleasurable or painful. If 
the former, we exercise the will to receive, retain, and 
have it again repeated. If painful, we will to dislodge, 



146 BAGG ON 

cease to have it repeated, or not have it again produc- 
ed ; this brings into operation volition. 

If we have a second impression, if agreeable it is at- 
tracted to the other, and so on, like letters forming syl- 
lables, syllables words, and words sentences, and so up 
to discourses or books ; for this book is a facsimile of 
my brain, or a chart of it. If it be muddy in spots, such 
is my brain. If it be clear in others, such is my intel- 
lect. To be better understood, the letter A, for instance 
strikes my vision through the influence or operation of 
that imponderable fluid called light; th e little globules 
or magnets oi the brain, are at once by the power of 
attraction, combined into the exact form of that letter. 
and corresponds exactly with it. Next, B is presented, 
the same little magnets or globules are separated by re- 
pulsion that formed A, and re-combined by attrac- 
tion, by the effect of light into the exact form of B, and 
so on through the whole alphabet. The formation of 
these letters separately we term a notion, apprehension 
or simple idea. Having had our little globules moulded 
into the forms of all the letters of the alphabet, and dis- 
persed or taken down, or distributed like the forms of 
the printer, we exert the power of the will (volition) to 
recombine them into the form or shape of them without 
tKe^oripnal letters being present. If we succeed in re- 
producing them in the brain we are said to be good 
scholars, and that faculty by which they are reproduc- 
ed is called in the books memory. Memory then, is 
that faculty of will by which we can reproduce the ori- 
ginal figure in the little globules of the brain which has 
been once produced. Having produced these singly, 
we are presented with two connected, or associated to- 
gether. A and B, and by an other exertion of the will, 
we read the word ab, which is compounded of the two, 
from thisanother is attracted and reads abel, from" this to 
absolom, and thus are the little globules from the diver- 
sity of their combinations, from impressions through the 



MAGNETISM. 



147 



senses to give us our ideas, first single like A, and then 
B, then compound, like A and B, associated or attract- 
ed together, then complex like Absalom riding on horse- 
back through the wood and getting his hair entangled 
in the branches of its trees. The manner by which these 
are formed and associated is by attraction, and chang- 
ed from one to the other by repulsion, for all our ideas 
are expressed by symbols or signs, and when thus asso- 
ciated and expressed, is called language, which we have 
examined in another part of this work (chap. xyii). 

The single, compound and complex divisibility and 
forms of matter, and its recombination, or what are ter- 
med our mathematical ideas, are obtained in the same 
manner, as well as all our ideas of solidity, extension, 
sound, motion, taste and smell. We have said that com- 
pound ideas were produced by attraction from the for- 
mation of single ones into compound; our complex ones, 
are formed by this same principle of attraction, but by 
the union of the testimony of different senses to the 
mind. A lump of ioaf sugar strikes the eye with its 
form and white coior, we feel of its texture and find it 
to be hard and rough ; we then taste it, and find it to 
be sweet, we then pronounce it to be loaf sugar. So 
also with brown, or any other substance. Thus, in the 
first instance, the white color, shape and taste attracted 
together produce the idea of sugar, which idea instead 
of being simple, is complex, for one kind of sugar has 
different characteristics by which it is distinguished from 
another. It might seem that color could not be produ- 
ced by a change in these globules of the brain ; but is 
not color owing to the attraction and repulsion of light, 
or in other words, its absorption and reflection. Does 
not the peacock ? s tail produce different colors, and 
shades of color, by changing from attraction to repul- 
sion ? Are not colors changed by the change in the ar- 
rangement of their pa rticles' ? Does not the addition of 
ten parts mure in a hundred of metal of oxvgen, change 
14 




148 BAGG ON 

black oxide of iron, to red ? Have we not shown al- 
ready, that chemical affinity was based upon the prin- 
ciple, that one substance, or simple, was in a positive 
state of magnetism and the other in a negative 1 Do 
not acids redden vegetable blues, and alkalies restore 
them 1 Have we not shown when on the metals, that 
all colors of the oxides were changed by a greater or 
lesser quantity of oxygen; and what are all of these but 
changes or reversions of the poles of these ultimate at- 
oms or globules ? Thus are our first or original ideas 
obtained and linked or associated. It will be observed 
that sensation has its extremes or poles. It is divided 
into pleasure and pain ; both lie the same road, and are 
• but the names erf the extremes of a continued line, and 
are thus antagonized m themselves. 

Volition is also characterized by antagonistic princi- 
ples. We make but two sets of motions as has been be- 
fore explained, in opposition to each other, as to and 
from ourselves. Sensation is that law of the mind by 
which we obtain all our original ideas ; and volition that 
law by which we assist to re combine and originate new 
ones, as well as put them into action, 'm the operations 
of life, which is called conduct, which gives character. 
That act by which the will is impelled to produce new 
combinations, is termed reflection. That act of the mind 
by which it perceives the difference of things is called 
comparison, and by which it ultimately decides — judg- 
ment. All our knowledge of things is obtained by sen- 
sation, and the making use of it for our benefit or detri- 
ment, by volition. Thus then, we have the commence- 
ment and progress of mind. We have said that much 
depends upon organization. Much also depends upon 
volition; unloss we make application we shall not make 
progress. The two then are necessary, organization 
and application, to obtain an education or habitude. — 
The mind like the body, has its antagonizing principles, 
and is governed by the same law; hence we find an- 



MAGNETISM. 149 

tagonizing poles to every attribute of mind. From our 
present limited knowledge of Phrenological science, we 
have discovered but about seventy manifestations of 
mind developed upon the head, which will hereafter be 
enumerated, located and illustrated. The passions are 
divided into two classes which are primarily antagoniz- 
ed. They are desire and aversion; desire depends upon 
attraction, and aversion upon repulsion. Desire is from 
the positive pole of pleasure, and aversion from the ne- 
gative pole of pain. The will is called into action in 
both cases, whether we wish to obtain or reject an ob- 
ject, thing or principle. The motive depends on sensa- 
tion. These (desire and aversion) are the primary or 
(elementary) as it were, passions of the human mind, 
which is like the simple notions, apprehensions of mind, 
or motions of body, are associated, combined and swel- 
led into almost an infinitude of complex arrangements, 
which have different names according to their appear- 
ance and effect. But numerous as they are, they are 
resolvable into two classes antagonized to each other, 
some of which are marked, and manifest themselves up- 
on the face and other parts of the body, which we shall 
show when we come to speak upon phrenology. The 
attractive passions are characterized by an inviting, soft, 
pliant, supplicating expression of the features of the face 
and muscles ; the repulsive by a rigid, tense, forbidding 
expression of the countenance and action of the extre- 
mities. Hence the maxim that " actions speak louder 
than words.'' The natural signs of the attractive pas- 
sions are denoted by dimples in the cheeks, smiles, laugh- 
ter, placid looks, a lively speaking sparkiing eye. and a 
winning look of the whole outline. The "repulsive on 
the contrary by tears, frowns, erections of the hair, and 
a cold, repulsive appearance; but it is not our purpose 
to describe the passions, but merely to show that they 
are antagonized to each other. We therefore find pride 
and vanity, joy and grief, love and hatred, hope and 



l!>0 BAGG ON 

fear, modesty and impudence, placidity and peevishness, 
adhesiveness and inconstancy, confidence and jealousy, 
firmness and timidity, ambition and indolence, in a word, 
all the emotions, feelings or passions of the mind are an- 
tagonized, and dependent on the same cause. Not on- 
ly is every attribute of mind antagonized to its fellow 
within itself, but the effect of mind upon mind in the 
transaction of business, in the formation of habits of con- 
duct, by influence, or persuasion to do, or not to do, to 
perform or leave undone, every or any of the transac- 
tions in human life. We find individuals of the same 
views, feelings and sentiments attracted together to form 
societies, and repelled from others, obeying the same 
law that governs matter. Hence the old and true max- 
im, that, 

" Birds of a feather, flock together." 

These are also constantly changing and undergoing 
new combinations, like those of matter. Nothing is 
more common than to see two individuals of the same 
sex on the most extreme terms of friendship, become at 
once the most bitter enetaies ; one extreme exactly pro- 
portioned to the other. So well is this general princi- 
ple understood by the observing, without knowing the 
cause, that when they discover the extreme of friend- 
ship in social circles, they anticipate and prognosticate 
a sudden blow up, or extreme of enmity. Hence the 
old maxim, that " hot love is soon cold.' 7 It is account- 
ed for upon our general law of mind and matter — that 
one extreme not only, at all times, follows another, but 
the quickness of the change is in a direct ratio to the in- 
tensity of the action of the extreme. Attraction or re- 
pulsion at all times, alternate with each other, which is 
but a reversion of the poles, from the action of the mag- 
netic principle. 

From unknown and unconscious causes, prejudices 
will arise between individuals, aud continue, but by the 
slightest cause, as it were by accident, a reconciliation 



MAGNETISM. 151 

takes place, the poles are reversed, they become friends, 
and the other extreme is the result. But not only are 
our minds formed from simple apprehensions associated 
together by this law, but mind as a whole, is governed 
by the same law in its operations in society in the form- 
ation of friendships. 



CHAPTER VI1L 

THE EFFECT OF MIND UPON MIND. 

We have seen in the preceding, but more particular- 
ly in the last chapter, in what manner mind is formed. 
Our present purpose is to show the influence of one mind 
over another, and in what manner they are formed into 
social circles, parties, societies and churches. One mind 
operates upon another in such a manner as to control it 
in its action and operations, or is incapable of exerting 
an influence over it; the former is the effect of attrac- 
tion, the latter repulsion ; for in the union and sympa- 
thy of minds when associated to form friendships, soci- 
eties, &c, there is as much attraction as there is be- 
tween an alkali and acid in their formation of a neutral 
salt, or one magnet upon another. Philosophically speak- 
evory thing in nature is a magnet, and has its poles, 
or antagonizing extremes, and communicates with other 
'ii no other manner. On an acquaintance of one 
individual with another of even the same sex, they are 
both so well pleased with each other, that they continue 
to frequent and enjoy each other's presence and socie- 
ty, or they have a mutual dislike, and separate and elude 
one another. One or the other of these effects always 
take place. The former is the effect of attraction, the 
latter of repulsion. Among those of different sexes, it 
forms the base of all courtships, and neutralization in 
marriage, as well as the cause of all the rebuffs that 
14* 



152 BAGG ON 

take place. In both instances, they are more the effect 
of passion and prejudice than judgment. Who, but has 
witnessed unsuitable and seemingly mysterious matches 
which were to say the least, any thing but the effect of 
good judgment. 

How often have parents attempted to break up at- 
tachments that had' already taken place, and create new 
ones in their stead, which good judgment dictated, and 
failed. How often have attachments been formed be- 
tween individuals and continued, which their own judg- 
ments told them were wrong, and pernicious to their 
permanent happiness and prosperity. How often have 
the attachments between individuals been so strong, that 
it has not only resisted the advice of relatives and friends, 
but parental authority itself, and arose to such a pitch 
of intensity, that walls, locks, and bolts were no barrier 
to the approximation of the parties, who steal away and 
consummate their union, under the full belief that all 
that is necessary in this life is the union of their minds, 
the cement of their affections, and presence of each oth- 
ers persons. For a time they enjoy themselves and 
each other, but at length attraction gives way, and re- 
pulsion permanently predominates, their behavior to 
each other is changed, love is turned into hatred, they 
quarrel and separate, and remain no longer one twain. 
Indeed, in a portion of community, these lesser attrac- 
tions and repulsions, quarrelling and " making up again" 
are daily alternating with each other, without perma- 
nent or final separation. But these attractions and re- 
pulsions are no less apparent in domestic, social and 
neighborhood circles. It forms the base of all the at- 
tachments and friendships, as well as prejudices and dis- 
likes, in community. 

Mind therefore, has an effect over mind, to control 
its actions and operations, and the law by which this is 
produced, is the same as that governing matter — de- 
pending on the doctrine of definite proportions. 



MAGNETISM. 153 

One individual wants a certain favor of another, his 
influence is not sufficient to obtain it ; he applies to an 
other individual who has sufficient influence to accom- 
plish it, w r ho intercedes, gets the favor granted, while 
the first could have no effect. The cause is obvious ; 
like oil and water the two first individuals were alike — 
in the same state of magnetism, either both positive or 
both negative ; their definite proportions were not in a 
condition agreeable to the law. to produce attraction, 
and was therefore repulsive of each other ; but on the 
interference of the third, like the addition to the water 
of the alkali, they are changed into a different state of 
magnetism, and attraction takes place, and the favor is 
granted ; a new compound is formed, or a new associ- 
ation commenced, which continues until another change 
takes place philosophically between them. So also with 
individual friendships. Persons frequently, simply from 
externa] appearance, hearsay, or some other equally 
tjivial cause, will take ot each other the most deep-root- 
ed prejudices and continue to indulge them for a time, 
but by slight causes, from accident as it w T ere, or by the 
intercession of a third person, a change takes place, at- 
traction takes the place of repulsion, and the most per- 
fect friendship ensues ; and vice versa from one to the 
other. Parties, societies, clubs and juntos, whether po- 
litical, moral civil or religious, are formed in the same 
manner and governed by the same law r . A simple ap- 
prehension or idea of mind, stands the same relation to 
mind as a whole, that an individual mind does to a soci- 
ety, party or club as a whole ; both are formed by at- 
traction, and dissolved, separated or broken up by re- 
pulsion. It is then the cause of all the excitements in 
community, in politics, morality and religion. 

The mind of one individual, besides operating upon 
another, and controlling in a great measure its actions 
through the medium of speech, by eloquence, argument, 
or by what is called persuasion, has another language 



154 BAGG ON 

or medium of communication, through the passions, and 
the eye has no inconsiderable share in the effective ef- 
fects of this species of communication. The influence 
of parents, teachers, and others, upon the young, afford 
striking examples of this line of communication and ef- 
fect If a child is brought before its teacher or parent, 
and interrogated or questioned in respect to certain facts 
of conduct, while he gives it, a searching look as if to 
read its very soul, the true answer is sure to be given, 
although prevarication almost amounting to falsehood, 
before others, had been practiced. 

But it will not be denied that one individual has an 
effect over another in controlling it, in the transactions 
of life. All our original knowledge comes by custom 
and habit, and the^e are obtained by sympathy, and 
imitation. What is sympathy but attraction ? and what 
is imitation but an effort to do as others do, or have done, 
by the power of volition? An idea or apprehension is 
as much an integral part of mind, as a particle of phos- 
phate of lime is an integral part of bone. An individu- 
al mind is as much an integral part of society or party, 
as an idea is of mind, and is as essential to the forma- 
tion of each, as a fraction is to form a whole number. 
The formation of both is owing to the same law, attrac- 
tion. It is therefore universal, and runs through all na- 
ture, and is the law on which the whole is based. Can 
we not then see a most perfect analogy in the forma- 
tion of mind from simple ideas, and the formation of 
societies and parties from individual minds, and the for- 
mation of compounds from simples, in material substan- 
ces? Can we not see why they are easily and readily 
found in some instances, and why they can not be found 
at ,all in others 7 ? Attraction in the first instance, and 
repulsion in the latter; and these again depending upon 
the proportions of their ultimate atoms relative to each 
other. It will be recollected, that from our present chem- 
ical knowledge, we have between fifty and sixty simples, 



MAGNETISM. 155 

from which all compounds of material substances are 
formed. It will also be remembered, from our present 
knowledge of the science of phrenology, we reckon about 
the same number of manifestations of mind. The sim- 
ple substances will not unite to form compounds at most, 
but generally in four proportions, and these are always 
a multiple of each other. Do we not discover an anal- 
ogy in formation of friendships between the different 
temperaments, corresponding to these? Are not the 
individuals composing political parties characterized by 
particular manifestations of mind? Can not a good, 
well skilled phrenologist, by examination of the mani- 
festations of mind, point out to which society or church 
an individual belongs, or that he has never joined him- 
self to any, or ever will, from his particular manifesta- 
tions? If so, is not there sufficient analogy to corrobo- 
rate our general theory in this respect? We showed 
(chap. xin. part 1) the different points of union of an- 
timony, iron and tin with oxygen, and that they invari- 
ably united in the proportions of multiples of their first 
point of union. These metals may be taken to exem- 
plify, not only the whole of material substances in na- 
ture, but the formation of mind from simple ideas, and 
societies from mind. This law of matter and mind, 
upon which both are based, is the cause of that endless 
variety and uniformity of nature w T hich philosophically 
constitutes beauty itself. 

It is no less then the cause of the variety of nature 
in her various compounds, textures, natures and colors, 
of varieties of intellect and societies, but the cause of 
the change or dissolution of all. It is also, as we have 
seen, the cause of the influence of one mind over an- 
other, as well as why it can not have influence. Some 
persons can not be made readily to acquire knowledge 
on a given subject or science, but will make great and 
rapid improvement in some other. Some persons can 
not acquire from a certain author or teacher, knowledge 



156 BAGO ON 

on a given branch or science readily; but of another 
author or teacher, will make rapid proficiency; while 
this same author or teacher will advance others more 
rapidly than even those that are last mentioned. This 
difference of instructors as well as instructed, is owing 
to our law of attraction and repulsion, and these, as we 
have before said, are the definite proportions of their 
nervous energy or magnetism, rendering, in the first . 
instance, where they learn readily, one positive and the 
other negative, and in the last, both positive or both 
negative. The former the precise condition to attract 
or acquire, and the latter the particular condition to re- 
pel, and therefore prohibit, necessarily, acquisition. — 
Thus, compounds of ideas, which form mind, are gov- 
erned by the same laws that govern matter. We have 
shown this principle to be the base of logic, and from 
our definition, it will be readily seen that eloquence, 
which is the great lever of public opinion, is but the 
effort of one mind to attract to itself or to its manner 
of thought, feeling, sentiment and action, other minds, 
and thus influence and control their actions and course 
of conduct, although there is another language, which, 
although mute, and speaks through but two senses, is 
nevertheless not the less potent, and probably influences 
and controls a large portion of community. I allude to 
the language of the passions, which communicates itself 
through the medium of the eye and touch. Thus then, 
both mind and matter are formed and governed by this 
law of magnetism. Substances will not then unite in 
all proportions to form compounds. Neither can all be 
convinced by the arguments and eloquence of one 
speaker. One orator will convince and persuade a cer- 
tain portion of an audience, and disgust another, and 
have but little effect either way upon a third. The 
cause we have before explained. We said (chap, xix, 
part 1) that there was no absolute weight, or levity, or 
heat, or cold, that all were relative, and resulted from 



MAGNETISM. 157 

attraction and repulsion. The only reason why a sub- 
stance falls to the earth, and is said to be heavy, is its 
attraction to the great magnet, and the force by which 
it attracts it is called its weight; but this attraction or 
what is called its weight, is and can be overcome by 
repulsion. Iron, by the magnetic fluids, is attracted to- 
gether and forms a mass. The same magnetic fluids 
from the earth and iron attract it to the large magnet, 
and the force or intensity is called its weight; but this 
same attraction can be changed to repulsion from the 
earth, and the iron made to recede into atmospheric air, 
and again be attracted back, for iron can be melted and 
thrown into gas. Every substance that is attracted to, 
or repelled from the earth, is naturally magnetized. — 
Every substance in nature has one or the other of these 
qualities, not excepting even man himself. Every sub- 
stance then, or thing, upon the earth, as w r ell as man 
himself, is naturally magnetic. 

Iron, which like all other substances, is in a naturally 
magnetized state when left free to move, is simply at- 
tracted to, and falls to the earth, but if by induction, 
an increased quantity of magnetism is communicated, 
and then left free, it points to the poles of the earth, 
one extremity to the north, and the other to the south. 
So also between individuals. In the common, every 
day transactions of life, they sympathize and and attract, 
or become prejudiced and repel, convince or disgust 
each other in affairs of daily intercourse, which are so 
common and habitual, that they pass unnoticed; but if 
we, through the medium of the will, communicate an 
increased quantity of the magnetic fluids, like the iron, 
the individual becomes exalted in all his faculties or at- 
tributes of mind, and we perceive this principle of attrac- 
tion and repulsion more clear, and its operations more 
striking. We allude to that peculiar condition of the 
system produced by what is called Mesmerism, or An- 
imal Magnetism. 



158 BAGG ON 

These fluids in the system, in a natural state, are sub- 
ject to accumulation and diminution, are expended during 
the day ; and accumulated during the night and that it 
can be repelled by one individual, and attracted by an- 
other, to such an extent beyond the natural condition, 
as to cataleps, palsy, or render insensible, the external 
senses of the body, and thereby create, institute, or make 
apparent a new sense, which, for the sake of distinction, 
we term the magnetic sense. 



CHAPTER IX. 

MAGNETISM, MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM DEGREES OF, BY CON- 
VERSATION AND ELOQUENCE MANIFESTATIONS; 

DIFFERENT DEGREES, TEMPERAMENT. 

In the ordinary intercourse then, of life, in the com- 
munications of one with another, through the medium 
of the senses, in our progress in the sciences by sym- 
pathy and imitation, as well as the original or new com- 
binations by reflection, the effect of one individual upon 
another to excite, convince, persuade and influence an- 
other, is produced by the magnetic fluids, according to 
the immutable law of the principle of attraction and re- 
pulsion. An individual is inclined or persuaded to per- 
form a certain act, or take a certain course of conduct, 
from the anticipation of its beneficial results, or is de- 
terred from it, or taking the course, from a fear of its 
consequences. One individual can convince about so 
many, such a portion of an audience, and prejudice the 
remainder against him and his subject. Another will 
convince another portion, and another another, and so 
on, until all are convinced; but not, however, to the 
belief of one creed or subject. This depends upon 
temperaments, which differ from each other by a differ- 
ent arrangement of the constituent elements of the body, 



MAGNETISM. 159 

and quantity of nervous fluid. A person of one tem- 
perament will have an effect upon a person of another 
temperament different, and this again upon another, and 
so on. A methodist, for instance, will convince, from 
an indiscriminate audience of free thinkers, such a por- 
tion; a presbyterian another; an episcopalian a third; 
the catholic a fourth, and the baptist, and universalist 
or unitarian the remainder, except some small fractions, 
whose organs of self-esteem are too large to be disgraced 
by the conviction of the truth of, and assent to any 
subject. 

These conversions of one portion, and non-conver- 
sion of the others in society, are governed by the im- 
mutable law of magnetic attraction and repulsion, as 
much so as matter, or the magnetic needle itself. Indi- 
viduals in society are changing in body and mind mo- 
mentarily, and he who can not convince to day, may 
to morrow, and he who can not be convinced this week, 
may be the next, as the ultimate atoms of our systems 
are constantly changing as well as mind, so that him that 
is positive to day, may become negative to morrow, and 
vice versa, for we find strong intellects operated upon 
by weak ones, and weak ones by strong ones. Many 
a strong intellect has resisted for years the whole ar- 
tillery of the scholastic intellects of the most eloquent 
and argumentative discourses, but yet have been con- 
vinced by an illiterate, weak and feeble speaker, without 
eloquence or logic, simply from the conditions of both 
minds being in the right relative capacity to be attracted 
by one another. Thus then we find that the intellect 
of man varies in sympathies and prejudices with each 
other in the natural state, or ordinary business of life, 
not only with each other, but are constantly changing 
in their own, to as great a variety and extent as the 
various combinations of material substances. This na- 
tural state of sympathies and prejudices, which is the 
result of the principle for which we are contending, for 
15 



160 BAGG ON 

illustration we will term the minimum, or naturally 
magnetized state of the human system, the lowest de- 
gree or communicating link in the chain of magnetic 
phenomena, up to the state or stage where a person can 
be so filled, affected, or operated upon by another per- 
son, as to close up or suspend all his natural sensations 
and volitions, and create in their stead a new sense, 
which, for the sake of distinction, we term the magnetic 
sense, and the particular stage in the chain of magnetic 
phenomena the maximum degree of effects; which de- 
gree stands the same relation to the minimum stage or 
link in the chain, that getting drunk does to the "stiv- 
erer" who takes his three or four drams a day. 

This definitien, and these degrees, are more or less 
arbitrary, as throughout the whole chain, no two indi- 
viduals are exactly alike, and vary in point of abilities 
and exaltation, or in brilliancy and profundity. One 
will excel in one branch, and another in another, and 
occasionally one will excel in all; but this seldom hap- 
pens. It will not be denied that there are different de- 
grees of magnetic effect, on a moment's reflection, in 
the naturally magnetic subject. To deny this, would be 
to say that all persons were equally operated upon by 
a certain oration or discourse, which, were it the case, 
would constitute all on a par, of not only quickness and 
aptitude of thought and action, but make them equal as 
to intellectual acquirements. Two persons of different 
temperaments go to church, for instance: the speaker 
is endowed with the gift of God, called eloquence.—- 
The one, instead of being interested in the discourse, 
begins to nod from sleep, and gives no attention, and is 
not the least affected by the effort; while the other be- 
comes attracted to the speaker, follows him in every 
idea, marks and feels every gesture, becomes excited, 
convinced, and retires determined to conform in con- 
duct to his inculcations. How is this 1 What the ra- 
tionale? The speaker, by his eye, his gesticulation, 



MAGNETISM. 161 

and through the medium of atmospheric air, by his voice, 
throws the magnetic fluid from himself throughout the 
room, and some being in the proper condition, receive 
it by attraction, which produce the same feelings and 
sentiments in them that this same fluid produced in the 
speaker; while others, being in a different condition, 
(positive or negative, as the case may be) repel it, and 
are not the least affected, or what is more generally the 
case, become deeply prejudiced against it: thus philo- 
sophically sustaining the parable of our Saviour in his 
similitude of the kingdom of Heaven to the husband- 
man sowing his seed. Some fell by the way-side, some 
among thorns, and some upon good ground, and it brought 
forth in different ratios, according to their faith and will. 
So also with the spirit of life, or truth, or the magnetic 
fluids, in every day's intercourse of man with man. It 
is in proportion to faith, belief, will, that the influence - 
is felt or not. All persons who have been magnetized 
to the maximum degree, will attest, that so long as they 
remembered their sensations, the manipulations produced 
a pleasant aura, or cool sensation like pleasant slight 
chills. Who is there that has not felt, while listening 
to an eloquent sermon, oration, or what not, these same 
pleasant chills or aura] Can we not, then, see that 
eloquence consists in the speaker's throwing from him- 
self the magnetic fluids upon the audience, and like the 
seed of the husbandman, some w r ill take root and produce 
such a yield, and in another such another crop, exactly 
proportioned to the relative condition of each to effect 
and become effected'? This work will convince about 
so many, such a portion of mankind, by attraction, and 
disgust another portion by repulsion, and have no effect 
upon others, because they have not sufficient faith to 
begin to read it. 

All those who have been magnetized, 01 put into the 
maximum state, can at any time throw themselves into 
that condition by their own will, by looking at a piece 



162 BAGG ON 

of metal that has been magnetized for that particular 
purpose. Patrick Henry magnetized by his eloquence 
the whole American Congress, at the commencement 
of the revolution, and moulded the majority of their 
minds, by attraction, into his own patriotic enthusiasm 
for liberty, and that same speech, then given, will pro- 
duce, in a degree, the same effects, when read at the 
present day. Thus much upon the minimum degree, 
or the naturally magnetized effects upon society. Now 
for the maximum state or stage. If we place ourselves 
in a position opposite to another individual, and be con- 
nected in such a manner as to grasp gently the hands, 
so that the ball or extremity of the thumbs shall come 
in contact with his at the same point, with our fingers 
brought into the centre or inside of his palms, and at 
the same time look him steadily in the eye, with a fixed 
determination of the will to throw through them and 
our eye the magnetic fluids from our system, and if the 
individual be passive or willing, and attract from us at 
the same time, with a concentrated energy, until an 
equilibrium of temperature takes place between us, then 
raise our right hand slowly, carrying the palm outward, 
describing a segment of a circle, to the head, so that 
the index finger shall rest upon the junction of the pa- 
rietal and frontal bones, and the thumb upon the organ 
of individuality, and hold it in this manner until an equi- 
librium of temperature also takes place; then draw it 
slowly down the right side of the face, over the cheek, 
to the top of the shoulder, and from thence lightly down 
along the arm to the thumb again, three times in suc- 
cession, in the same manner, and then take hold of the 
thumb with the right hand as before, holding on, and 
perform the same with the left hand. Then raise both 
to the head at once, and perform with both together 
three times, as before, and clasp the thumbs again, as at 
first, and continue to hold them about the length of 
,time it took to perform these three .last manipulations; 



MAGNETISM. 163 

then carry them up in the same manner to the top of 
the shoulders, and hold them there for about the same 
period, drawing them lightly and slowly down to the 
thumbs as before; then raise them to the face on a level 
with the eyes, at one or two inches distance, and hold 
them in that position three minutes; then slowly draw 
them within two or three inches of the body to the 
pit of the stomach, on which press or touch gently the 
thumbs, while the fingers of each hand rest upon the 
sides. Hold them here three minutes, and then bring 
them down again to the thumbs, and clasp them the 
whole time with a fixed, determined and concentrated 
will, the individual will close his eyes and fall into the 
first stage of magnetic sleep, which consists in doing 
away with natural sight, or catalepsy of the eye. We 
may then go on with the same, over and over again, or 
make use of such of them as appear to have the great- 
est effect. If we now think him to be through the first 
stage, which can only be known positively by asking 
the somnambulist himself if he is through, he will 
either aw T ake and open his eyes, or tell you the truth. 
If he is not through, and does not awake, he will tell 
you which manipulations effect him most, and have the 
best effect to facilitate the operation, as well as give the 
precise time it will take, to a minute, by the watch, — 
should it be five hours, which was the case with one 
subject of mine, about two years since, who told on be- 
ing asked during that period, forty times, and the seve- 
ral forty periods of time, amounted to a minute, to the 
five hours, When the subject says he is through with 
the first sleep, then change your manipulations by put- 
ting your thumbs and fingers of each hand, drawn to- 
gether in the form of a cone, upon veneration, and draw 
them slowly down to the pit of the stomach, or a little 
below, (which point at this stage, the subject will point 
out) in such a manner as to describe a circle, carrying 
back with the palms turned outward, and thus on, in 
15* 



164 BAGG ON 

this manner, until the subject is rendered incapable of 
hearing through the ear, and gays himself he is through 
the second stage, • which consists in doing away this 
sense. Again change your manipulatious by placing 
the left hand upon the side of the head, so that the 
thumb will correspond to the upper part of the organ 
of caution, while the root of the little finger shall be in 
contact with destructiveness, while at the same time 
you place the right hand as before, upon the organ of 
veneration, and draw it down to the pit of the stomach 
in such a manner as to describe a semi-circle; continue 
in this manner until the senses of taste, touch and smell 
of the right side are cataleps'd or palsied; then revers- 
ing your hands by placing your right upon the side of 
the head, and perform the manipulations with the left 
in the same manner as was done with the right, until 
the senses, as before mentioned, of that side are palsied 
or closed up. Your subject is now magnetized, or so 
affected by your will and manipulations, ? which are the 
effect or mere tools or machinery of volition, that he 
has no natural sensations or volitions. He can neither 
see, hear, feel, touch, taste or smell, except through his 
magnetizer. 

All the avenues or windows, as it were, to the exter- 
nal world are closed, shut or cut off, while the vegeta- 
tive system and the vital organs perform their office. — 
All the external senses are by this operation concentra- 
ted in one, or a new one is instituted or created, which 
we term the magnetic sense. A good clairvoyant or 
subject perfectly magnetized cannot hear even his mag- 
netizer, except he be in contact, and although he can- 
not see, through or by the eye, can see by the new sense 
through a solid, as well as before through atmospheric 
air. 

This is the most regular and best course to take the 
first time, with all who present themselves to be mag- 
netized. But the re .are those of congenial temperaments, 



MAGNETISM, 165 

and whose atoms or proportions of magnetism are so 
perfectly proportioned to that of the magnetizer, that 
they will readily become magnetized in a few minutes ; 
while others will take as many hours, w T hile still others 
will require three or four sittings, on as many different 
days, as well as others who cannot be made to go into 
the perfect state at all. But there are none but what 
can be affected in a greater or less degree, although to 
himself or the bystanders it does not become sensible 
without close observation. There is no person but w r hat, 
if we put our fingers upon the pulse, and icill to throw 
directly into the blood or artery the magnetic fluids, but 
whose pulse can be sensibly increased in fullness, 
strength, and frequency, from five, to ten or twenty 
beats in so many minutes, without any appearance of 
sleep. Sometimes we sit down to magnetize, and after 
going through the above, in nervous and bilious tem- 
peraments, all the sensible feelings produced are a heavi- 
ness over the brow, a nervousness, or fidgets in the feet 
and limbs, with almost constant yawning; but in these 
partial cases, in a few minutes the patient is as much re- 
freshed as though he had taken hours of common natu- 
ral sleep. In temperaments of easy influence, like the 
lymphatic, we need not ask the patient to look at us, 
neither need we look into his eyes. We can magnetize 
him by looking at any part of the body, as the finger, 
and alter it is ojice or more times done, we can do it by 
the simple will alone without looking at, or touching 
him, but more of this in the sequel. To return to our 
perfect state of magnetic sleep as it is termed, the max- 
imum state of effect in the chain of influence. The sub- 
ject sets erect as in the natural state, breathes as usual, 
countenance natural, but if asked a question without con- 
tact cannot hear. If we now will him to raise the right 
arm, to place it upon his head, to straighten it from the 
body* to walk across the house and touch a certain 



166 BAGG ON 



point, and then will him to return without a word being 
spoken, it is performed. 



CHAPTER X. 

MAGNETISM AS MORE PARTIGMJLARLYAPPLIED TO MAN, OR 

WHAT IS COMMONLY CALLED ANIMAL MAGNETISM, 

CLAIRVOYANCE, CATALEPSY, PALSY, &C. 

I magnetized a subject and patient suffering under a 

spinal neuralgia, in the family of H n, who said that 

a certain other person, who took more than common in- 
terest in his welfare, had pledged him not to be put in- 
to the somnambulic state without his being present. — 
That day, having a very severe headache he consented 
to go to sleep, (as we call it) and therefore waived the 
pledge. After getting into a clairvoyant state, and while 
I was exciting some of the phrenological organs, he 
suddenly darted from me and ran rapidly to the top of 
a long, and high flight of stairs, having no banisters, and 
beckoned me to come to him. I was taken by such sur- 
prise by this act (as the subject had been heretofore in 
pain and uneasiness when only removed but four or five 
feet distance,) that I fancied him insane, but on reaching 
the top of the stairs where he stood, he immediately in- 
formed me of the cause. While sitting, there below, he 
saw his friend three or four rods from the door in the 
road approaching the house, and having promised never 
to be magnetized when he was absent, he ran to the top 
of the stairs, and beckoned me to come up and take off 
the influence before he came in, but said he, " he has 
now gone, and you need not take it off," and I led him 
down again for fear he might fall, to w T here we were 
sitting when disturbed. A minute or two after I went 
to the head of the stairs, the lady of the house hearing 
a knock at the door, opened it, and the friend made an 



i 



MAGNETISM. 167 

inquiry after the health of the person in sleep, and pas- 
sed on, corroborating what had been said by the sub- 
ject. Now such was our relative position as to his, any 
where in the street, at the time of his perceiving his 
friend, that he must have looked through two lathed and 
plastered walls, as well as the clapboards on the outside 
of the building. Of this there can be no mistake. It 
could not have been otherwise. There can be no pre- 
varication, no escape from the truth as above stated. 

I have repeatedly been seated in my office with dif- 
ferent clairvoyants when there would be a knock at the 
door, and not knowing whether it was some one who 
w r ished to come in on business, for medical aid, or mere- 
ly to gratify an idle curiosity, have made enquiry of the 
clairvoyant, and in nine cases out of ten would tell the 
fact, what was wanted, as I would learn by opening the 
door. One of my subjects was so easily effected, or so 
thoroughly magnetized that on exciting the organ of im- 
itation he would at the same instant of time perform 
any, and every motion of the muscular system that I 
w r illed and did myself. If I revolved one hand over and 
around the other with the greatest celerity, he would 
do the same at the same instant, and if I changed with 
the quickness of thought, from revolving in one direc- 
tion, to that of the other, he w r ould at the same, instant- 
ly change also, so that no perceptibile difference be- 
tween the two could be discovered. If I arose and 
walked he would do the same ; if I walked erect, he 
would walk erect also ; if I walked in a stooped, limp- 
ing, halting manner, he would do the same ; if I writh- 
ed or contorted the muscles of the face, cried, laughed, 
sung, or spoke, he would perform the same, at the same 
instant of time ; if I spoke or made a speech on any sub- 
ject he would speak the same, use tne same modulation 
of voice, observe the same accent, emphasis and ca- 
dence, in a word, he would imitate all, every and the 
most minute action or motion, not only of myself but ol 



168 BAGG ON 

any other person with whom he was put in communica- 
tion. I at one time put him in communication with an 
infant six months old, and he imitated every little mo- 
tion of the hands and fingers that they usually perform in 
their cradles at that age. When the babe cried he 
would cry also. This subject was the best on imitation 
and some other characteristics, of all that I have mag- 
netized, in not less than two thousand, particularly on 
time and reading at the top of the head and pit of the 
stomach. When the weather was good, and that is 
when it is the best for the electrizing machine, he would 
at any and at all times when asleep, put his hand to the 
pit of the stomach and tell correctly the time of day or 
night, even to a second, and this without he or myself, 
or any one in communication, looking at a time-piece of 
any kind. He could appreciate time the best of any I 
have magnetized out of over two thousand. This sub- 
ject when well magnetized, would read a common bank 
bill or any thing else of the size of common bills at the 
top of the head or pit of the stomach, while in the som- 
nambulic state, with the eyes securely bandaged, so as 
to preclude the possibility of seeing. I have never had 
but four among those I have affected, that could read in 
this manner. Clairvoyants all vary in their capacity of 
reading and travelling as it is called. They differ also 
in many other respects and in their own capacity at dif- 
ferent times. This depends upon a variety of causes 
and contingencies, such as the temperament of the mag- 
netizer and magnetized, of their health, their relative at- 
oms of electricity, the condition of the atmosphere, and 
on the extent as well as manner of their being magnet- 
ized. Much has been said upon clairvoyance or second- 
sighted ness. While some believe that magnetism or 
electricity, which we have shown to be light, is thrown 
by repulsion and received by attraction into their sys- 
tems, so as to illuminate the organ of mind in such a 
manner that they are increased and exalted in every 



MAGNETISM. 169 

faculty by a superabundance of this principle ; others 
believe that it is the union of two minds, and by this 
means is doubled in perception and capacity; while oth- 
ers believe that it is a process which, in a mysterious 
manner so operates as to separate soul and body, mor- 
tality from immortality, and that when perfected, we 
converse with the soul direct, isolated and detached as 
it were, from the dross of corruption — the body. We 
confess from our present knowledge, from the great dif- 
ficulty in obtaining and keeping in employ clairvoyants, 
from the ignorance and derision of a large share of com- 
munity upon the subject, that it is still enshrouded in 
mystery, and perhaps ever will be. All we know is, 
that something is imparted from us to them, which weak- 
ens us, and strengthens them, and that in proportion to 
the quantity imparted, or their becoming effected they 
become exalted in mind and soul. Subjects describe 
their magnetic vision as long as they can remember, as 
a white silvery gleaming light, like that from the reflec- 
ted rays in a frosty morning from a field of blades of 
grass. When we move our hands over their heads, 
they describe it like bands or streams of white silvery 
light. When we ask them to walk with us in clairvoy- 
ance and bid them examine, they frequently excuse 
themselves, by saying it is too dark, but on having a few 
passes repeated, they will go on as desired, expressing 
themselves as able to see and tell correctly. Thus it 
appears to be light — the magnetic fluids. Those who 
can be so effected as to not be able to see, hear, touch, 
taste or smell, except through the magnetizer are at all 
times good clairvoyants and may be depended upon ; 
whereas those that have one of these senses remaining 
entire are poor ones, will sometimes tell the truth, and 
sometimes the contrary, and are therefore never to be 
depended upon. Although they will sometimes break 
out and astonish all with their lucidity, with their al- 
most miraculous powers in travelling or giving certain 



170 

facts infinitely beyond the comprehension of mortality, 
perhaps the next breath they will come wide of the 
truth. It is this, their imperfect magnetic sleep, owing to 
various collateral circumstances as before mentioned, to- 
gether with the most prominent one, of the ignorance 
or rather want of knowledge of the magnetizer upon the 
subject, which brings clairvoyance into disrepute and 
causes it to be disbelieved by the multitude, and even 
questioned by those who float upon the surface of the 
science, or pretend to be magnetizers. Magnetism is 
governed by the law of attraction and repulsion, is con- 
trolled by the will alone of both the magnetizer and 
the magnetized. Hence a subject magnetized is attrac- 
ted or repelled by every person within a certain sphere 
of influence, such as throughout a common sized public 
lecture room. Those who believe in the science, at- 
tract, while those who disbelieve repel the magnetized. 
When we cataleps an arm, many present of an audience 
have the curiosity to convince themselves by handling 
it, and the tendency of the magnetic fluids to an equi- 
librium, like what has hitherto been termed caloric, ab- 
stracts it, and is transfused to the officious handler, and 
the clairvoyant becomes incapable of correct sight, and 
fails on that account. Therefore a clairvoyant will ne- 
ver, from this and other causes, such as tne exhausted 
air, and too large proportion of carbonic acid floating in 
the room, perform so perfectly in a large audience as 
in a small familiar circle. They seldom long, in a large 
audience point to the positive pole of truth, but vacillate 
and turn to the negative one of error. Whoever has 
amused himself by playing with a dozen small compass 
needles in a sufficient distance, or sphere of influence to 
effect each other, can form some idea of, and appreci- 
ate the embarrassment under which a magnetizer la- 
bors in attempting to prove the truth of clairvoyance 
under these circumstances. Many times a whole audi- 
ence will not only be crowded into a small room, but 






MAGNETISM. 171 

are noisy disbelievers, call it all a humbug, distract the 
mind of the magnetizer, and added to these, absolutely 
outwill the magnetizer, in their wish to bring odium up- 
on the science, and carry their points and gain their 
ends. In union or attraction there is strength, but in 
its opposite, weakness. There was a time in Ireland 
when there was but one individual will, to will the re- 
peal of the union, and it was of course impotent for ef- 
fect, but that individual attracted others and so on until 
now, the whole concentrated will of the Island is for re- 
peal, and if they stand firm, it must and will come; it 
forms the omnipotence of the public sentiment of Ire- 
land. When the patient, or subject rather is magnetiz- 
ed, the several external senses catalepsed, or palsied, 
and the new one instituted, the whole mind becomes so 
exalted and enlarged, as to at least break over the cir- 
cumscribed boundaries of mortality, and presents us with 
phenomena truly surprising, astonishing, wonderful, and 
full of interest. A good clairvoyant well magnetized, 
will not only look through a solid as well as atmospher- 
ic air, but the sight is lengthened immeasureably be- 
yond our comprehension. He will look into, and through 
the system, tell the location of disease, describe the feel- 
ings, thoughts, the appearance of the part effected, the 
cause, and if curable the most appropriate remedy, cor- 
rectly, even better than the patient can describe his own 
feelings, and call to mind transactions in life that trans- 
pired years before. In a word, time, space, textuiv. 
distance, magnitude, locality, and all the other attribute* 
of mortality, are annihilated. 

After a lecture in a certain village in this state, i 
the benefit of a few select friends, on returning to my 
room, I magnetized my subject. A young man of the 
party in company, had left the room unperceived by 
me, and the clairvoyant broke out in a digression, say- 
ing that he was then drinking a glass of beer at the bar. 
I desired a gentleman present to step to the bar and test 
16 



172 BAGG ON 

the truth of the assertion. He immediately returned 
with the young man who owned the fact to his disgrace, 
as he was a te- to taller and this was the first he had ta- 
ken in our route, which was a month in duration. 

Now such was the situation of the bar relative to the 
room we occupied, that the clairvoyant must have look- 
ed again through two lathed and plastered walls, as a 
hall intervened between the bar-room and the one we oc- 
cupied, and both doors were closed. It was very unlikely 
to be guessed at, or anticipated, for it was the fiist he 
had drank in the journey. 

In our route I chanced to magnetize a man so that he 
became a clairvoyant, at the village of S — e, who had 
an affected spine. I assured him if he would accompa- 
ny us I would cure him. He accordingly became one 
of the party, and I magnetized him as often as twice a 
day for thirty days, at the end of which he was perfect- 
ly cured and had gained the first, twenty days a pound 
of flesh per day. This subject read with his eyes ban- 
daged, at the pit of the stomach, at one time a handbill, 
but never read afterwards, lie was a good clairvoy- 
ant, could at all times when well magnetized describe 
correctly the feelings of a patient better than he could 
(in the generality of cases) himself, give the cause, du- 
ration of the disease, prognosticate and prescribe, if cu- 
rable. He never failed to tell when in communication, 
indescriminately from an audience, to what political 
party they belonged correctly, which frequently amoun- 
ted to a dozen during one lecture, and all perfect stran- 
gers to both him and me. He also told their business 
and occupations in life, and never failed to point out 
ministers of the gospel, (the number examined was five) 
and to what sect or denomination they belonged. The 
day before he left us while thoroughly magnetized, in a 
high state of clairvoyance, I asked him if he could not 
tell me something new about magnetism; if there was 
no better manner to induce sleep. He said there was 



MAGNETISM. 173 

no better method, that we must concentrate and will 
strong. I asked him what was the cause. He replied 
it was electricity and that was life itself. I then asked 
him if there were any more degrees of sleep than we 
then practiced, that a subject might be put into. After 
a few moments, said he, if you lay your thumbs on ve- 
neration, hold them there a minute, then draw them 
down each side of the head, neck, shoulders, and along 
the arms to the thumbs, and repeat six times ; after 
which hold them just below the ear against the great 
arteries about the same length of time that you are per- 
forming the manipulations, concentrate well, and will 
strong, Ml can see into Heaven.*' I immediately com- 
menced and added as directed, this degree of magnetic 
sleep to the three others already produced. As soon as 
completed, I icilled him to Heaven, and never shall I for- 
get the scene that ensued. He raised his head steadily 
upwards, muttering unearthly and sepulchral sounds, 
seemingly conversing with, (to us,) invisible spirits, be- 
came convulsed, shed tears profusely, was choaked and 
troubled for breath; but by great effort cried out, Doc- 
tor, don't, don't. Don't what, said I. Don't will me to 
Heaven; " they don't like to have me go there.*' " O! 
such a sight !" here he cried aloud, sobbed, and became 
so convulsed that I feared the consequences, and took 
off the last influence. After waiting a few minutes and 
finding him uninjured except very tired, I affected him 
as before, and willed him again to Heaven. He became 
affected as before, panted for breath, trembled, sobbed 
whispered, and gesticulated as though in the most ear- 
nest conversation but at length became more calm, and 
after a few minutes said, * thanks be to God Doctor, 
my friends are here, some of whom I never believed 
would have got here." He then broke out to exhort 
us to become better, to live better lives or we should 
never get there, and said he was determined to live a 
better life himself, and begged me to let him return, and 



174 BAGG ON 

that when I returned if I came through his village, he 
would consent to let me will him as strongly as possi- 
ble again to Heaven. He was so affected and weak, 
and fearing consequences should I persist, I took off the 
influence and awakened him. When awakened he saw 
that some eyes were still wet w T ith tears, and enquired 
the cause; but could not remember a word that had 
passed. He was very serious all day, frequently sigh- 
ed, and repeatedly enquired what made him feel so weak 
and bad. The next morning he took the stage for home. 
In two weeks I returned that way, called on him, and 
in presence of some five or six persons put him again 
into the same state as before, and took him at his offer 
and willed him as strongly as possible again to Heaven. 
His appearance was exactly almost as before, and such 
was his look, exaltation, and description of Heaven, with 
his exhortation to the company present, some of whom 
might be called emphatically " hard cases," that they 
will never forget it to the day of their deaths. I will 
add that it produced upon all a greater impression of 
the necessity of living correctly, than the most eloquent 
sermon from the pulpit. 

On my return, I also put into the same state and will- 
ed him to Heaven, a man affected with palsy who had 

been for years a member of the church of in good 

standing. His appearance and description was almost 
exactly the same as above, and constantly begged me 
to return as " they did not want him there." 

I again put another gentleman into the same condi- 
tion, who was a most exemplary member of the church 
of a different denomination of christians, who begged so 
fervently to be brought back and awakened, that at the 
almost peremptory solicitation of friends, I was obliged 
to take off the influence. 

In the winter of 1843, I magnetized C o who had 

been partially twice magnetized previous. I magnetiz- 
ed him systematically, and he became insensible to all 






MAGNETISM, 175 

external objects through the natural or ordinary ave- 
nues, and was therefore a good clairvoyant. I sat down 
and asked him to travel with me to my house, which 
he described externally, yard, and front steps. I told 
him to count them and tell how many there were. He 
replied, four. I thought there were but three, and told 
him to look again and be particular. He said there 
w T ere four, and could not be beat out of it. I then led 
him inside, and asked him who were there. He said 
there were three ladies and a little girl whom he de- 
scribed, but made out one more than composed my fa- 
mily of adults at the time, and I told him to look sharp 
and* be particular again, when he replied that one of the 
ladies had her " things on" and was going home; "there 
said he,' ? she has gone. I told him to follow her and 
see where she went, aud find out who she was. He 
followed her up Woodward Avenue to the corner of 
Grand River street, and along that street to the next 
corner, to a house which he said she had entered. I 
bade him go in and ask who lived there which he did, 

and gave the name as Mrs. S 1. I then brought him 

back, and took off the influence. To my surprise and 
astonishment, on arriving at home, I found as near the 
time as could be ascertained that evening, that the lady 
described had been there, and that he was right about 
the number of steps, which proves one fact, that it is 
not the reflection of the magnetizers mind, but that 
they actually do see for themselves. The next evening 
a friend of mine took him again to my house, when he 
described the furniture as well as I could have done my- 
self, which again goes to corroborate their actual sight 
instead of sympathetic reflection, as the friend who led 
him had never been but once in my house in his life and 
could remember but little the appearance of the furni- 
ture. It is proper to state that tiie clairvoyant had 
been in the city but a short time, was a stranger to me, 
and had never been at my house. 
16* 



176 SAGG ON 

The next day, a gentleman of the city wished me to 
take him to his house, and examine his wife, who had 
been some time ill. Accordingly we called, and found 
a small circle, consisting of two ladies, two gentlemen 
and two children. I made no introduction, but in a few 
minutes put him into a magnetic state. Immediately 
after he was magnetized, a young lady who was absent, 
entered the room and made one of the number. I then 
asked him how many persons were present, which he 
told correctly; then seated the lady near him, put him 
in communication simply by her touching his hands, 
without saying one word by the way of introduction? 
directed her to ask if she was unwell, and if so, to have 
him describe her symptoms, and prescribe the remedy. 
After sitting a few minutes as if reflecting, he raised 
the right hand in a slow manner, so as to describe a 
semi-circle, by carrying it backwards and raising it as 
high as the length of the arm would permit, (which mis 
afterwards always his manner) this being the first pa- 
tient he ever examined, and brought it upon the head, 
w T ith his thumb upon individuality, and fingers of the 
right hand resting opon benevolence, while he applied 
the point of the left thumb to the tips of the left fingers 
in succession, one after the other; then examined the 
pulse, changed hands, applied the left to the forehead, 
and the right to the pulse and fingers as before. As 
soon as this was accomplished, he told her her symp- 
toms and feelings, where the diseases were located, the 
cause, and prescribsd for the cure, for which he recom- 
mended some roots. The lady asked him where they 
could be found. Said he, "dont you see them there," 
at a certain piece of woods, (only four miles off) as 
though they were present. I told her to say that she 
could not see them, and to ask him if they could not be 
procured in some of the drug shops of the city. He 
looked into them from where they were sitting, and said 
no; but said therfc were so many in such a garden, and 






MAGNETISM. 177 

one root in such an one, "dont you see it V 9 ad though 
presentc The husband went to two of the gardens next 
day, and found he was correct, and as it was during 
winter, and he a stranger, and had never lived here in 
the summer, it excited astonishment that he should be 
so correct. The other gardens mentioned he never ex- 
amined, as he found sufficient for use in the others. 
The lady was through, and the husband took him by the 
hand, and asked him how many children he had. He 
replied instanter, three, but the next moment corrected 
himself, and said " two; you had three, but one is dead !' ; 
When did it die? About a year since. Was it a boy 
or girl] It was a girl, dont you see there? Where 7 
In heaven at meeting; dont you see her? What is she 
doing? She is singing and praising God before the 
Throne. Who is on the Throne ? God, dont you see, 
with Moses on one side and Jacob on the other. Where 
is Jesus Christ? He is on the Throne; Christ is God. 
Where is God the Father? He is never seen; he is in 
the fourth Heaven, amc^nfrathig all on Christ. He was 
then asked about Hell, which he described as a place 
out of the immediate presence of the Almighty, where 
there was no pleasure or happiness, but pain, misery, 
want and discontent. He was then put into communi- 
cation with the other gentleman, whom he examined, 
told his feelings and symptoms exactly; located his 
pains, which were rheumatic, and prescribed for their 
cure. I then simply put the point of my fore finger 
upon the organ of veneration, and he immediately fell 
upon his knees, and made, in a full clear voice, one of 
the best short prayers I ever heard, with language that 
would do credit to our best divines, and produced a 
solemn effect upon all. I then suddenly withdrew mv 
finger, and he stopped in the middle of a word. I then 
touched the organ of tune, and he sung two or three 
verses of an appropriate hymn. The organ of loco- 
motion was now excited, and he sprung to his feet. I 



178 BAGG ON 

then set him a chair, and willed him to set down, de- 
mesmerized the organs, took off the general influence, 
and he awoke. It is proper to state that this subject is a 
simple, honest, illiterate young man, a hard case, and quite 
often throws out expletives not exactly compatible with 
the commandments, was a stranger to all present, had 
never seen them before, does not remember a word that 
has been said, or what has transpired; was loth to be 
put in sleep, and does not believe in magnetism. He is 
of the lymphatic temperament, and when w T ell magnet- 
ized, has never failed to tell the truth when led by one 
that could concentrate, as far as could be ascertained. 

A few evenings after, a gentleman from Cuba called 
at my office, and desired to lead my clairvoyant to that 
island, to ascertain the health of his family, and when 
they would leave for New York, as he had been for 
some time expecting them. I immediately throwed him 
into a clairvoyant state, and he commenced, having no 
difficulty in getting there. After landing, the gentle- 
man desired him to ride with him about four miles, to 
the plantation; but he utterly refused, and said he would 
walk. The gentleman pressed him to ride; he again 
refused, and became quite vexed that he should want 
him to ride one of those little, ugly, long eared animals, 
(mules) and could not be prevailed on, and walked. 
He described the plantation, trees, houses and scenery, 
expressed a lively surprise to see so many large piles of 
bags of coffee; gave the style of building their houses 
high, with no chamber floors, to let the heat escape; 
complained of the great heat of the climate, &c, all of 
which, together with the number, ages, sex and health 
of the family, the gentleman declared to be true; not 
one word of which was suggested by the leader. The 
next evening, the same gentleman took him across the 
Atlantic to Paris, to the residence of his son, and to the 
Place Vendome, where he described the pillar erected 



MAGNETISM. 179 

by Bonaparte, from the cannon taken in his victorious 
battles. 

During one of the evenings of 1843, a small party 
of ten or twelve gentlemen were assembled at my office, 
to witness experiments in magnetism. My clairvoyant 
was in a magnetic sleep, when a friend came in, accom- 
panied by a stranger to the whole company. After 
sitting awhile, and witnessing some experiments, the 
friend informed me that the stranger would like to 
lead the subject. I immediately put them in communi- 
cation. He then asked him if he would travel with 
him to the city of New York. He consented. They 
started, and travelled by the usual route and manner, 
by steamboat. Having arrived, he became much elated 
with the appearance of the city, the Astor House, City 
Hall, and then went on to the gentleman's dwelling, 
the exterior of which, and the adjacent buildings, he 
described correctly, and then went to the front door, 
read the gentleman's name on the plate, rang the bell, 
a servant opened the door, and they were ushered in. 
After describing the hall, some of the rooms, furniture, 
and so forth, he came to the piano forte, and said there 
was a lady playing upon it, w T hom he described, told 
the color of her hair, eyes, complexion and dress. The 
gentleman told him to promenade with her. He whis- 
pered something to himself, and then replied that she 
refused to walk with him. He then told him to sit down 
and observe her walk while he promenaded with her. 
He immediately exelaimed that she could not walk, that 
she was lame, had a stiff leg. He told him to look sharp 
and examine it closely. He said it was a wooden — a 
corked leg; all of which the gentleman, after giving his 
name and residence, affirmed to be true. 

A gentleman of property, character, and good stand- 
ing in society, called at my office in company with five 
or six friends, (members of the Legislature) to test the 
truth of animal magnetism. I proposed to put my sub* 



180 BAGG ON 

ject to sleep. They said they wished to test it upon 
their own systems, and selected this gentleman as the 
subject. We sat down as usual, and in a few minutes 
his eyes became red, suffused, the lids began to tremble, 
and at length closed. After making a few more passes 
in the usual manner, believing him to be so far advanced 
as to be unable to open them, I put my fingers upon 
causality, comparison and time, and asked him how long 
it would take to put him through the first stage of sleep. 
He replied five hours. The great anxiety of his friends 
induced me to go on and see how it would terminate. 
I therefore continued to manipulate him for two hours. 
I then awaked him, and in the evening recommenced, 
and continued until he was through, which took five 
hours to a minute. Of this there could be no mistake, 
as two or three of the company held their watches, and 
noted the time, as I interrogated him every half hour, 
fifteen, twenty, ten and five minutes, how long it would 
take from each period asked, during the whole time, 
which he shortened down each time from the other, so 
that all the parts between the interrogations, added to- 
gether, made in the aggregate, to a minute, five hours; 
and his appreciation was such that he told correctly 
three minutes before the time expired. Now whether 
he was actually through or not, is immaterial; the great 
interest in this case, as well as others of a similar na- 
ture, consists in his being able, without looking at some 
time piece, to be so correct, not only from point to point, 
but to the whole period of time. This gentleman being 
a hard subject, (all nervous-bilious) I did not again at- 
tempt to magnetise him further. Some days after this, 
the same gentleman called with a friend, to be examin- 
ed for disease. He was put in communication with my 
subject, and after describing correctly his feelings and 
cause of the disease, he began on the cure, and first re- 
commended him to take some pills. I told him to en- 
quire what kind of pills, which he did. He immediate- 



MAGNETISM. 181 

ly broke out and said he must take " such a pill," made 

and kept by Doctor , at Milwaukie. Said he, 

pointing in that direction, "dont you see him there, there 
he is; a little small man, with a fur cap on, and large 
black whiskers; get them, and they will cure you." 
The company and myself had a hearty laugh on his 
length of vision, in modestly looking over across the 
Peninsula and Lake Michigan, into a drug shop at Mil- 
waukie for medicine, and after a little further examina- 
tion of his family and home, which he described correct- 
ly as )he gentleman stated, I severed the communica- 
tion, and took oft' the sleep. 1 then asked him if he 
had ever been at Milwaukie. He said no. I asked him 
if he was acquainted with any one living there, and he 
said he was not acquainted with any one, and here the 
matter ended as I supposed, and was by me forgotten 
among the great multiplicity of my daily clairvoyances; 
but these gentlemen having a great curiosity to know 
whether there was such a man residing there as descri- 
bed, wrote to an acquaintance and received for answer 
that there was such a physician and druggist, by that 
name, that the description was correct, and that he kept 
the particular pills, and whether he got and took them 
I did not learn, as the gentlemen live in the interior of 
the State, distant eighty miles. We were all satisfied 
that he had never been, or was acquainted with anv one 
residing there. I had forgotten to mention that this gen- 
tleman was still so doubting upon magnetism, that I told 
him that if he would sit a few minutes, I would give 
him a demonstration upon his own system. According- 
ly he sat down, and I commenced to make passes, and 
in about twenty minutes I put him through the first sleep 
or stage. I then awakened him, and told him to put his 
two middle fingers together. I then made five or six 
passes at them and told him to separate them if he could. 
He tried, and tried, and tried again, but could not sep- 
arate them, they remained fast. I then desired him to 



182 BAGG ON 

stand up, and nailed him to the floor so that he could 
not move. After liberating him from this position, I 
pointed my fore finger at him, and willed him to come 
to me, or rather attempted to attract him to me. He 
resisted with his whole energy, and was encouraged by 
those present so to do, to carry their points of disbelief, 
but I attracted him inch by inch, not only across the floor, 
but out of the room into the hall, and could have made 
him follow me about the city. But this convinced him 
of the truth of animal magnetism, as he informed me 
last summer that his extreme resistance lamed his whole 
muscular system for three months. 

Shortly after this case, an other of the party led my 
clairvoyant to a village west the extent of the railroad. 
He had never rode in the cars before. They stopped 
and got out at the usual stopping places, took occasion- 
ally a glass of beer, or hot cup of coffee, read the signs 
correctly, made other observations as they went along, 
and the subject appeared as much delighted with the 
ride and country, as would have been anticipated had 
his mortal frame accompanied his spirit At length they 
arrived at the residence of the gentleman, and they 
alighted, jumped into a post-coach and landed at the 
door of the gentleman's office which he described to his 
satisfaction, and more or less minutely, such as the li- - 
brary, stove, &c, and among the rest which is not ex- 
actly furniture for a law office, ten or a dozen barrels of 
flour. He thea made an effort to take him to his dwel- 
ling, but owing to the want of concentration or some 
other cause had some difficulty, at length he described 
the exterior, opened the door and walked in; after de- 
scribing the furniture he asked him if he saw anv one 
in the room. He replied that there was a lady sitting 
by the cradle rocking it with one hand and reading a 
newspaper, and that the other child was asleep on the 
floor just beyond the cradle, the ages and sexes of which 
as well as the lady he described to a tittle. I suggested 






MAGNETISM. J 83 

to have him ask what newspaper she was reading, which 
he did, and he replied that she was reading a newspa- 
per printed in this city. I then told him to ask him what 
particular matter she was reading, and he instantly re- 
plied that it w r as Mr. MacLeod's speech, which was ra- 
ther musical, and had been delivered in the Representa- 
tive Hall, a few days previous. He then led him back 
in the same manner as before, stopped, drank, eat, and 
conversed on all they saw, as when they went out, read 
the signs correctly and landed at the city, and after ex- 
citing some of the phrenological organs, I took oft' the 
influence and he w r as awakened. I thought no more of 
this case as it had ceased, from my every day habit of 
proving clairvoyance, to excite that interest that to 
those who had seen less would have done, and did do. 

A few days after this, the gentleman in writing to hid 
lady facetiously said, " you must keep yourself correct," 
for Bagg's clairvoyant can tell at any time what your 
deportment is, and what you are about, and then men- 
tioned what he said as above. The ladv in her next, 
replied in answer that it was true, that she was reading 
at, as near as could be ascertained, the precise time, in 
the Free Press, a newspaper printed in this city, the par- 
ticular speech mentioned, and that the particular posi- 
tion of herself and children at the time, was as de- 
scribed. I have the gentleman's letter before me on the 
subject. This case is valuable in again corroborating 
the principle that they actually see for themselves, and 
that it is not simply a reflection of the imagination and 
memory of the one who leads or is associated. 

About this time I received an invitation to lecture on 
the subject of animal magnetism at a village some twen- 
ty miles distant. I accordingly sent on my bills, and 
when the day came, started for the purpose, and on my 
route called at the half-way public house, to feed and 
get some refreshments ourselves. As soon as we en- 
tered, the gentleman of the house limped along, and 
17 



184 BAGG ON 

pointed up to the wall, and said, it is Doctor Bagg, I 

suppose. You are going to M s to give a lecture 

on magnetism. I believe it's all a humbug, but if you 
could cure my rheumatism, " I would give you any 
thing." I have have had it for three months; have not 
been able to go to Detroit this winter. I have taken 
almost every thing and can't get help, but I believe it's 
a humbug, and have no faith in it. Aware of the pre- 
judices of the people, and that if I could not essentially 
help him, I had better let him alone. I looked at him 
scrutinizingly to discover whether I thought I could af- 
fect him, and made up my mind I could. I was deter- 
mined however, not to touch him unless I was sure I 
could bring him so under its inflence as to tell for the 
science, for in nine cases out of ten, they will want you 
to try them, and when they find they are about to be 
influenced, will exercise all their energies to counteract 
its influence, and then go about retailing slander and 
abuse without measure. The bystanders will also gen- 
erally make all the diversion possible, from the concen- 
tration of both, by winks, nods, noise, laughter and de- 
rision under the general license of ignorance and impu- 
dence, to make you fail if possible. I found on obser- 
vation however, that he was inclining to corpulency; 
was of the nervous-sanguine temperament, and having 
the rheumatism, together with the peculiar state of the 
weather which favored me, 1 made up my judgment at 
once, that I could put him to sleep. I told him in a care- 
less, familiar kind of manner, if he would sit down I 
would see if I could relieve him. That it was a good 
way to effect the general system a little first, and then 
draw it throughout the limbs. I then began by putting 
my hands upon his head, so that my thumbs correspon- 
ded to individuality, while my index finders lay on the 
organ of benevolence, and with a concentrated energy, 
and firm will, in two minutes, without touching any oth- 
er part or making a pass, his eyes closed, and he began 



MAGNETISM. 185 

to make deep inspirations and show symptoms of deep 
sleep. I then made passes as usual, and magnetized 
him for twenty minutes by the watch precisely. While 
in this situation, the bar-room (although in the country) 
became full. The stage stopped, every door was open- 
ed and his family were peeping in to see what was go- 
ing on. While in this situation, I made the necessary 
passes to cure him of his rheumatism, and then took off 
the influence. I then asked him how he felt; he said 
he felt rather curiously; said it "was kind of strange." 
I asked him to put the points of the middle fingers of 
each hand together. I then made a single pass and told 
him to separate them if he could, He tried for two or 
three minutes, but in vain, and gave it up. I then ask- 
ed him to rise and walk about the floor. He did so. I 
asked where his rheumatism was. He walked about 
and around the room without a limp or feel of it, ejacu- 
lating, is it possible? " gentlemen, it is gone," strange ! 
(kicking and throwing out his limbs,) I can feel none of 
it. I am as well as ever; curious ! strange ! I then ask- 
ed him to stand still, made a pass at his feet, and asked 
him to walk. He was immoveable; he could not stir. 
His volition was in me ; he was under my control. I 
then made a reverse pass and he was liberated; he could 
walk. I then desired him to put the index finger of the 
right hand upon his nose, and then made a most power- 
ful pass at the finger, which not only stuck it to his nose, 
but put him to sleep and knocked him completely over 
backwards/ which would have done him injury had I not 
caught him when near the floor, in the fall I then sat 
him up like an old fashioned clock, as he was perfectly 
and universally catalepsed (as we term it,) all by one 
pass with a will which concentrated all my energies. I 
then willed to take off the influence except to keep the 
finger to the nose. When awake and reflecting upon all 
that had so quickly transpired, standing with his finger 
so attached to his nose that he could not separate it, 






18$ BAGG ON 



with his rheumatism cured; and standing also not as the 
living monument of hutnbuggery, but as the living wit- 
ness of the effects of magnetism, not only on disease, 
but the actions, volitions, and sensations of man, he 
broke out with emotion and cried like a child. I then 
took off the influence, asked him what was to pay, and 
ordered my horse. He replied by asking my charges. 
We parted even, and we went our way, and arrived at 
the village in time for our lecture, which was given at 
the Court House. Nothing unusual transpired; there 
were but few present. After I had shown by my clair- 
voyant, phrenology and the general effects of magnet- 
ism upon him, I found in the audience six or eight little 
boys, from five to twelve years old, that had been some- 
what previously affected with magnetism. I then with 
the consent of their friends, stuck all their fingers togeth- 
er, each with each, and all together, and with my fin- 
ger attracted them thus attached as high as they could 
reach, and then as low as the floor. I then dragged 
them by the attraction of the finger all about the room. 
I had almost forgotten to mention that during my lec- 
ture a gentleman wished to lead my subject in clairvoy- 
ance to his house. I accordingly put them in commu- 
nication and proceeded to take him to his house. After 
describing the exterior, he took him inside and went 
through with the general description of the most prom- 
inent articles of furniture and so forth, and among the 
rest said there were two persons in the house, a lady 
and gentleman, and said they were both sick, told what 
ailed the lady first and then the gentleman, and descri- 
bed their looks, dress and appearance. After he had 
got through, and returned, I called on him to state to 
the audience whether it was correct. He assured them 
that it was all correct except the man, that his wife as 
they knew was well described, that she was unwell, but 
that when he left home there was no man in the house, 
and he presumed there was none there then. This ere- 






MAGNETISM. 187 

ated a smile upon the audience, and was rather against 
my clairvoyant. The lecture closed, and we repaired 
to the public house and staid through the night. Early 
next morning the gentleman called, wished me to go 
over to his house and let my clairvoyant examine his 
lady for her disease, being full in the faith, for on re- 
turning home from the lecture, to his surprise he found 
his wife's brother, had soon after he left for the lecture 
arrived, and that he had a swelled neck as the clairvoy- 
ant described, and was the gentleman mentioned. We 
accompanied him and examined them both, and he de- 
scribed correctly all the symptoms and feelings of both, 
told the cause and prescribed for the cures. This case 
also goes to corroborate the fact that they see them- 
selves, as this gentleman did not believe there was any 
person but his lady in the house at the time. 

A few days after this, in the morning after a lecture 
over night, in another village distant some twenty miles, 
a respectable physician of reputation as a practitioner, 
called on me to consult on himself in respect to a har- 
rassing cough, which was very troublesome. Knowing 
that he placed no confidence in magnetic remedies, I 
prescribed bleeding, and took twenty ounces from the 
arm, after which I prepared to let my subject examine 
him. He objected, saying he had no faith, but his lady 
had, and having a curiosity to see me excite the mani- 
festations of mind, I put him into the magnetic state, 
and put him first in communication with the Doctor and 
told him to look at his lungs and see what state they 
w r ere in. Shortly after, just having been bled, he began 
to vomit and to elude throwing the ejections into the lap 
of the clairvoyant, he turned his head to the right side, at 
the same instant of time the clairvoyant from direct at- 
traction vomited also and turned his head to the right to 
elude the Doctor's, when one heaved, the other did al- 
so, to an instant of time. The Doctor groaned and 
throwed up again, so did the subject, and would hav<> 
17* 



188 BAGG ON 

continued so to do, as long as they were in connection, 
and the Doctor had continued sick, but I broke up the 
connection, excited the organ of alimentiveness and he 
was immediately relieved and the poles of the stomach 
restored. After chewing aloes, and various other drugs 
behind the back of my subject at the distance of six or 
eight feet which he at once detected, pronounced, and 
desired me to spit out, I awoke him, and we left.1 The 
Doctor however became a convert from that transac- 
tion, and moment, and is now engaged in investigating 
the subject. 

In the spring of 1843, a young man called on and 
wished me to cure him. I prescribed for, and gave him 
some medicines for which he paid me two dollars.— 
Some six or eight days after, my indoor sign was pull- 
ed off and thrown across the hall. I suspected a young 
man strongly, almost amounting to certainty, who had 
previously pulled down and carried off my out door one, 
six months before. About a fortnight after this while 
my clairvoyant was in the magnetic state I asked him 
who it was that took it down. He reflected for a few 
minutes and then said, " there he is, walking en the 
bank of the river, (a half mile distant and through two 
thick brick walls,) don't you see him?" Yes, said I, 
but I have forgotten his name, will you mention it ] He 
took his forefinger, which is always his manner, and 
wrote in the palm of my hand, and then pronounced it 

L B. Are you sure that this is the man ? Yes. he 

called on you to be cured, of you know what, and gave 
you an Oakland County two dollar bill and you gave 
him some medicine which almost cured him, and he 
came here five or six times and you happened to be out, 
and the last time he came, he was mad and took hold of 
your sign, tore it off and thro wed it across the hall say- 
ing, " damn you," you are never at home, and went to 
another Doctor. I could not the first moment recollect 
the bill and asked him if it was not a three dollar one 



MAGNETISM. 189 

that I had taken. No, said he, it was a torn two dol- 
lar Oakland County bill. I then distinctly remembered 
the bill, and the man, just as he said it was, an old torn, 
almost w r orn out one. 

The nature of this case was such that no one on 
earth but the patient and myself knew any thing about 
it; and his having told correctly the name, and describ- 
ed so perfectly the bill, as well as hinted at the nature 
of the disease, while I suspected another individual, 
could not but impress on my mind the conviction that 
all he said was true, and adds further testimony to prove 
that they see of themselves, instead of being the mere 
echo of the mind of the one in connection. I will but 
add that I know r that he was not, nor is at present ac- 
quainted with the individual, and when awaked said he 
had never heard of such a person, and does not remem- 
ber one word that he has said upon the subject, and ap- 
pears astonished at the recital. 

In the fall of 1842, while lecturing on magnetism in 
a certain village in this state, not quite one hundred 
miles distant, two or three physicians of the place in- 
formed me that they had a standing patient, that they, 
as well as other neighboring ones, had attended for 
years without beinir able to restore him, and that if I 
would cure him they would all believe in animal mag- 
netism and give the cause an ardent support. I imme- 
diately repaired to the house, got the history of the 
case, examined the patient, found that some three years 
previous, while in good health, he was attacked with a 
paralitic fit, which terminated in a palsy of one side, 
that remedies had been administered in vain, that he 
had only so far recovered his sensation as to be able to 
feel, but not volition so as to be able to walk, and that 
about eighteen months since he was seized with what 
they termed the shaking palsy, and at this time could 
help himself but little better than an infant. He could 
neither raise nor hold up either leg or arm. That his 



190 BAOG ON 

wife was obliged to raise him up in bed, slip him off in- 
to a chair and draw him to the fire and back again to 
bed, raise him up, back him against it, set him down and 
wheel him round upon his back; in short, he was almost 
or quite helpless. I found on looking him in the face, 
that he would fall into a most singular and an apparent- 
ly foolish fit of laughter, although he had been a man 
of good sense and judgement, and belonged to the Meth- 
odist society of christians. 

Believing that this disease consisted in some obstruc- 
tion of the nervous fluid from the brain, or in an une- 
qual distribution of it from the brain; that some organs 
were magnetized while others were destitute of a suffi- 
cient quantity of the magnetic fluids, and that the look 
of any one into the face excited this already over ex- 
cited organ into extreme action, and thereby produced 
the immoderate laughter, I laid my finger on the organ 
of mirth (below the malor bone, where I locate it) in 
the face, and he immediately bursted into a most violent 
fit of laughter, which convulsed his whole frame. I 
then placed my finger on veneration, and he was instant- 
ly as sober as a deacon, and as dignified as a judge 
upon the bench. Next I touched combativeness, and 
he struck at me with some force, although w T hen not 
excited, he could not raise the arm. Other organs were 
now tested with less effect, but I was convinced that if 
I could thoroughly magnetize him, and thereby produce 
an equilibrium in the organs of mind, and restore the 
poles from the brain upon all the organs, I could cure 
him, and so expressed myself to his estimable but de- 
sponding lady. It being near evening, on which I had 
advertised to lecture, I proposed to call immediately 
after, and make an attempt to thoroughly magnetize 
him, and let him lie all night in the sleep. 
* After the lecture, I again repaired to the spot, and 
commenced operations. Within a few minutes, three 
physicians made their appearance; others came in one 



MAGNETISM. 191 

after another, until the house was filled to a "jam/' 1 
soon found he was through the first sleep, and I observ- 
ed to his lady, that his eyes were closed so that he could 
not open them. One of the physicians behind me, in 
the true anti-magnetic spirit, characteristic of the people 
of those times, spoke out audibly, and said " no wonder 
he can not open them, he is so tired. ?? I made no reply 
but went on with my manipulations for the next sleep, 
(the ear) as heretofore mentioned (chap, ix, p. 2d). 
1 soon believed him through this also, and whispered 
his wife to call him by name to find whether he could 
hear. She called him : he answered not. I said louder: 
he spoke not. Louder, said I, and she repeated at the 
top of her voice, and yet he was silent and as mute as 
a statue. I then turned around and said, in rather a sar- 
castic mood and manner, "he's so tired he can not hear, 
and soon he will be so tired he can not feel, taste or 
smell." I then changed my manipulations for the other 
senses, as described further, (chap, ix, p. 2d) and soon 
the remaining senses went by the board, one after the 
other, and were extinguished or suspended. He sat 
erect in his chair, breathed natural, pulse was full, a 
little quickened, but firm, his countenance was sedate, 
and his silly laugh had vanished and gone. I then took 
his lady aside, and whispered her to get some vinegar, 
sugar, allspice, pepper and other things she could find 
that had a well marked taste. I turned my back, and 
at the distance of eight or ten feet, filled my mouth with 
vinegar. He instantly spoke, and said, in an angry tone 
and manner, spit out that vinegar, and shuddered, as it 
Was sharp and made me shudder. After rincing my 
mouth, I put in a bit of loaf sugar. That's good, said 
he. What is it ! said I. It's sugar. What kind? Loaf 
sugar. 1 then tried the various other tilings, in the order 
mentioned above, and he as readily told correctly the 
whole. Having got through with these, said I, you pa) 
he can not hold up his arms or legs, do you ? x . 



192 BAGG ON 

How long has he been in this condition 1 Eighteen 
months or two years. Poor man, said I, can not hold 
up his arms or legs ! I immediately took hold of the 
hand of the left arm, and raised it to a point at right 
angles with the body, and gave it three rapid passes the 
whole length, from the shoulder to the fingers, and will- 
ed it to be cataleps'd and remain in that position. I 
then served the right one in the same manner, and both 
remained fixed. I next raised up one leg at nearly right 
angles, and in the same manner, and with the same ce- 
lerity, fixed that as well as the other, in the same con- 
dition, and then folded my arms and promenaded the 
room with an air of triumph. The reader can imagine 
that his attitude and appearance must have been some- 
what ludicrious, bnt I was determined to show the mul- 
titude, as well as the " plow-jogging" sons of Escula- 
pius, that magnetism, by the will of another, could hold 
up both his legs as well as arms. After remaining in 
this position some ten or twelve minutes — a monument 
of magnetism, the house perfectly still, all in breathless 
astonishment, his wife enquired how long I was going 
to ler him remain so, if it would not weaken. I assured 
her it would not, but on the contrary, strengthen him; 
but in a few minutes more, as it was getting late, made 
two or three reverse passes towards each, at the dis- 
tance of six or eight feet, and arm after arm, and leg 
after leg, dropped and resumed their natural positions. 
I now helped him to bed, willed him to sleep until I 
should call and awake him in the morning. Next morn- 
ing at eight, I called and took off the influence, when 
he expressed himself much better, appeared refreshed, 
more natural, and langhed none. I now demesmerized 
the organs of mirth and combativeness, and left him, 
promising to return as before after the lecture, and mag- 
netize him again for the night, which I performed. I 
stopped at this village about a week, put him into the 
magnetic state every night, and awaked and catalepsed 



MAGNETISM. 193 

his limbs every morning, during which he so far recov- 
ered as to be able, with the assistance of a person by 
his side to lean upon, to walk up a common flight of 
steep out-door stairs, to my lecture room, where I ope- 
rated upon him before the audience, in company with 
five or six others I had put into the somnambulic state 
since my arrival. The doctors gave it up, were con- 
vinced, and had in two of their families, one in each, 
put into the magnetic state. I then left for the next 
village, distant some twelve miles, and he followed me, 
and took lodgings, and staid as long as I remained in 
4hat village. I daily operated upon him as well as night, 
at the lecture room before the audience. With a look, 
or with the will, I could palsy his tongue or any part of 
his muscular system. He continued to gain as long as 
I saw him. I have never heard from him since, except 
on my return, I stopped over the sabbath at the village 
again where he resided, and that night, between the 
two villages, three trunks were cut off and stolen from 
the stage,, and they came to me and desired I should 
put my subject into the clairvoyant state, and try to find 
out who stole them, and where they could be found. 
I did so. but he could sec nothing, although generally 
he was an old one. I then called on this subject, but a half 
mile distant from the public house where we stopped, 
put him into a clairvoyant state, and told him to exam- 
ine the road and see who stole the trunks. In a few 
minutes he described them, told where they were taken 
off, by whom, and where they could be found — in a 
certain field; described the men, and said they were 
that very moment drinking whiskey in a certain distil- 
lery, which he described and located. A couple of 
gentlemen, from this description, started and proceeded 
to the spot where he said they were, and they returned 
in the afternoon, saying that they had been found just 
before they got there, on the very spot mentioned. 
Whether the men were detected I never heard, having 



194 BAGG ON 

left early on Monday morning, and did not arrive at 
Detroit under a month. 

While lecturing in one of the villages of this state, 
I chanced to affect a young lawyer. He was of a ner- 
vous sanguine temperament, and very susceptible. One 
day, immediately after dinner, while standing in the 
bar-room, which was pretty well filled, the young gen- 
tleman chanced to come in. Some one said, "Doctor, 
cataleps him." Another said " stick him to the floor." 
I looked at him, when he put his thumb upon his nose, 
and played with his fingers after the manner of "the 
invisible flute," in defiance saying "you can't come it." 
At the instant I made a pass at him, and willed to stick 
it to his nose, and catalepse it; and although at the dis- 
tance of twenty feet, it was perfectly successful. His 
thumb pressed so severely against his nose that it caus- 
ed a good deal of uneasiness, and he begged to be re- 
lieved. With a reverse pass and will corresponding, he 
w r as at once restored. 

These are some of the many instances and proofs of 
the truth of the influence of magnetism, as shown by 
catalepsing and clairvoyance. Subjoined are copies of 
papers certifying to other cases, during my route, of 
the truth of animal magnetism: 

Marshall, October 28, 1842. 

Doct. Bagg, 

I take pleasure in saying to you, that having attend- 
ed your lectures on animal magnetism, in this village, 
with much satisfaction to myself. I consider the ex- 
periments performed by you, both in public and at your 
own rooms, to be at least difficult of explanation on any 
other principle than that of magnetism. I have also to 

say that the experiments in clairvoyance of M. A , 

with me are sufficient to make me believe in that part 
of your performance. 

Bartholomew Banks, 
Marshal of Marshall. 



magnetism, 195 

Marshall, October 17, 1842. 
Doct. Bagg, 

Dear Sir, — It is due to the persecuted cause of 
animal magnetism, and to yourself as one of its advo- 
cates, that honest and impartial judgement should be 
exercised by those who witness your astonishing experi- 
ments. Having attended a part of your lectures at 
this place, as well as having had an opportunity to visit 
your private room, to view experiments, I feel constrain- 
ed to believe the science (if it may be so called) of 
animal magnetism is destined, ere long, to command the 
respect and excite the wonder of the community, rather 
than to draw forth ridicule and sneers from those who 
judge without investigation. Your clairvoyant tftis eve- 
ning, in a state of magnetic sleep, described three rooms 
of my dwelling, with all the articles of furniture con- 
tained w r ithin them, with as much precision as I could 
have done myself, and I know it must have been per- 
formed without the least possible knowledge of the 
premises. J. A. Van Horn, 

Clerk of Calhoun County. 

Having witnessed, with no little interest, the exper- 
iments made by Dr. Bagg in this place, on Animal Mag- 
netism, I take pleasure in stating rny conviction of the 
truth of the above science. The experiments mads 
upon six or eight of our citizens, who had been put in 
the magnetic sleep by Dr. Bagg, fully satisfied me, as 
it did all others who witnessed the experiments, of the 
truth of Animal Magnetism. I further certify thai! 1 
took his clairvoyant, when in a mesmeric sleep, to a 
house twenty miles distant I had in mind, and that he 
described the house, and the furniture in the room I 
willed him to, as minutely as I could have done it my- 
self. George Monroe. 

Albion, Oct. 31, 1842. 
19 



196 BAGG ON 

Doct. Bagg: 

Sir, — I most sincerely congratulate the public on 
the prospect of acquiring a splendid improvement in 
the means of promulgating the principle of Animal Mag- 
netism. It is not only to yourself, as an advocate, but 
to the cause of science, (if it may be so called) that an 
impartial investigation, divested of prejudice, should 
judge of its merits, particularly those who witness your 
astonishing experiments, Having attended two of your 
lectures, one at Homer and another at this place, as well 
as being favored with an opportunity of visiting your 
private room, to witness experiments, I am fully persua- 
ded that animal magnetism is destined, at no distant pe- 
riod, to command the admiration of the American peo- 
ple. Your clairvoyant, last evening, in a state of mes- 
meric sleep, described the exterior of my dwelling, a 
cottage with wings, to the satisfaction and astonishment 
of a large and popular audience. I also accompanied 
him in my will to the principle room in the house, when 
he described every article contained therein (with one 
exception) with as much precision as myself or any of 
my family could have done, and I know it must have 
been performed without any knowledge of my premi- 
ses, Doct. E. E. Gardner. 
Jones ville, Nov. 2, 1842. 

Doot. Bagg: 

Sir, — I attended your lecture last evening on Ani- 
mal Magnetism, and am perfectly satisfied that your 
subject performed clairvoyance in the description of two 
rooms and their furniture, when led by my wife, with- 
out any possible chance for deception. He described 
the rooms and their furniture as perfectly as any person 
would have done if they had previously visited them 
for that purpose. H. S. Brockway. 

Jones ville, Nov. 4, 1842. 



MAGNETISM. 197 

It is here proper to state that the above gentleman 
was a keen, sagacious, learned and discriminating prac- 
titioner of medicine, and that his lady led the clairvoy- 
ant, not to her own house, but to that of her neighbors, 
and that she could not be familiar, and was not, with the 
furniture of the house, that the clairvoyant saw and de- 
scribed correctly what she did not know, as she stated, 
and consequently that this is another fact of actual sight 
in the clairvoyant, instead of its being simply the re- 
flection of the leading mind. 

Doct. Bagg: 

Dear Sir, — I take the liberty of presenting some 
facts in regard to your lectures at this place, on Animal 
Magnetism. M. A* was put by you into a mag- 
netic sleep, and I was put in communication with him, 
and led him in imagination to my house, where I know 
he had never been when awake. He described the out- 
side perfectly. Then the hall, and then a room, with 
most perfect accuracy, table, carpet, looking glass, pic- 
tures, and a quantity of sea-shells that were on the 
shelf over the fire place. Not an article of this furni- 
ture had been in this room over a week, and I am sure 
he had no means of knowing in what house or what 
room I was in, and I have no other room in my house 
that would in any way answer the perfect description 
he gave. The same evening, I was again put in com- 
munication with him, and in imagination took him to 
another room in my house, when he exactly described 
my parlor and all the furniture, carpet, piano, tables, 
fire place, pictures, &c, with the most perfect exactness. 
He read, in my presence, two bank bills and a slip of 
paper, upon the top of his head, on which the word 
house was written, and all this reading was done with 
his eyes perfectly blinded with a handkerchief, and held 
down on his eyes by Mr. Hughes and Dr. Patterson, 
citizens of this village. The few days Dr. Bagg was 



198 BAOG ON 

with us, he put into a mesmeric sleep six or eight of 
our citizens, and some of these men of as much respec- 
tibility as any in town. 

My son-in-law, Mr. Hughes, was put in communica- 
tion with him last night, and he described a third room 
in my house, with even more exactness than the two 
first. Dr. Bagg has delivered three lectures at this 
place, and from his lectures and experiments, nearly all 
of our citizens that have had an opportunity of attend- 
ing them, have been made perfectly satisfied that there 
is no humbug in this affair, and that we have not been 
deceived, and that there is a reality in Animal Magnet- 
ism. You are at liberty to make what use of this hasty 
and imperfect statement you please, hoping that it may 
bring the attention of more scientific men to the inves- 
tigation of the subject. 

Respectfully yours, 

J. W. Brown. 

Tecumseh, Oct. 9, 1842. 

The following is a certificate of Drs. Patterson and 
Bills, a committee appointed by the citizens of the above 
village, to examine the experiments at my lectures, and 
report. Dr. Patterson is now the Senator from that 
district. 

Dr. Bagg's experiments in Animal Magnetism, per- 
formed in this village during the last few days, were of 
a singularly interesting character; his power of cata- 
lepsing different portions of the human body, in rapid 
succession, without even touching the person, and his 
developements of Phreno-Magnetism afforded conclusive 
proof that there is something in Animal Magnetism 
worthy of a candid and careful examination. 

Dr. Bagg s experiments were conducted openly and 
fairly, and were unusually satisfactory. It is time that 
the medical world should commence investigating this 



magnetism. Ifl9 

subject, and no longer, under the scornful epithet of 
" humbug/ 7 pass by results as remarkable as they are 
unaccountable, unless we attribute them to the influence 
of electricity, or some of its modifications, acting in a 
peculiar manner upon the nerves of the human system. 
M. A. Patterson, ) ^ 
Parley Bills, \ C °™™«™- 
Tecumseh, Oct. 9, 1842. 

The following is copied from the Marshall States- 
man: 

animal magnetism. 

This science, so called, has at length taken up its 
abode in our village. One of the disciples of this school 
of philosophy, Dr. Bagg, of Detroit, is now here, and 
is performing wonders in the mysteries of magnetism. 
He has lectured w T ith great success and good satisfac- 
tion for two or three evenings, and will continue to lec- 
ture a few evenings more. We refrain at this time to 
speak upon the subject. A committee of four or five 
medical gentlemen were appointed, who are expected to 
report to the public, at the end of the exhibitions, the 
details of their observations. Unbelieving as the writer 
of this has ever been upon this subject, he is now con- 
strained, by the indisputable evidence of his senses, to 
give up entirely his incredulity, and can honestly de- 
clare his firm conviction of the truth of what is called 
Animal Magnetism. The physical and mental effects 
produced on the subjects operated upon by Dr. Bagg, 
are enough convincing to put aside all scepticism on the 
subject. If a person in magnetic sleep, with eyes se- 
curely bandaged, is enabled to read from a piece of 
printing placed on the top or at the back of the head, 
then we may ask, what is too extravagant or wonder- 
ful for belief? This act the clairvoyant performed, and 
not only that, but manv others equally as extraordinary 
18* 



200 BAGG ON 

and incredible. The Phreno-Magnetic performances 
were striking, and go to establish the truth of the science 
of Phrenology beyond contradiction. But we can not 
here enlarge. The lectures of Dr. Bagg have been 
well attended by our citizens, and excited among them 
intense interest. His operations in the lecture room 
are performed with openness and fairness. He will 
lecture one or two evenings more, giving those in the 
vicinity of this place an opportunity of witnessing the 
astonishing effects of the magnetic fluid, brought under 
the control of human agency, and directed by a skillful 
operator. B. 

These are a few of the numerous instances of clair- 
voyance .that have come under my observation during 
the time that I have been engaged in the investigation 
of the subject of magnetism, which is but little over two 
years, preceding which, no man was more incredulous 
than myself. To be sure I had never seen a subject put 
into a mesmeric state and never wished to do so. It 
was so repugnant to our every day's experience that I 
was determined not to believe it, until, by the assurance 
of an old acquaintance and friend, on a visit from Ohio, 
I made some passes, and to my surprise my subject 
went into a magnetic sleep. This was done without 
reading any thing upon the subject, but simply upon the 
assurance of my friend. Witness my astonishment that 
after having practiced medicine for twenty-five years, 
and that* more or less extensively, I had made at this 
period of my life, the discovery that by the will and cer- 
tain manipulations or motions of the hand of one indi- 
vidual, another could be made blind, deaf, and destitute 
of taste, touch and smell, and at the same time, from 
this very operation exalted in mind, in soul, to an extent 
beyond comprehension. That although the sense of 
touch was so completely palsied and dead that a tooth 
could be extracted, a limb amputated, or any other pain- 






MAGNETISM. 201 

ml operation upon the physical system, could be perfor- 
med without the patient being conscious of it, and yet 
through a new sense, instituted or made apparent by 
this operation, by contact as the medium, a communica- 
tion can be kept up as well as though the external sen- 
ses were as active as in their natural state. That the 
mind is exalted in the magnetic state, no one will deny, 
who has witnessed cases in clairvoyance, or question, 
after having dispassionately investigated the subject. — 
In all the cases I have seen, which are not few, (over 
one thousand) they are grave, sedate, and dignified, full 
of integrity, and can never be made to vary from ex- 
pressing the truth. No falsehood, prevarication, or hy- 
pocracy ever escapes their lips, or characterizes their 
conduct. On the contrary, like the needle true to the 
pole, they are true to the truth and cannot be diverted 
from it They are never disturbed by gusts of passion 
of any kind; and never have I witnessed a subject laugh, 
weep, or show the lea^t symptom of passion while in 
the magnetic state, without the organs were separately 
excited by the n or. Although the natural sight 

is interrupted, the strbject can, not only see through a 
solid as well as throii rh the common medium of sight, 
but it is lengthened inimitably. They can also not only 
be led, but sent to any distance. We are aware that 
this will be dh'sbe&ved by some, and ridiculed by oth- 
ers, but that is nothing when one gets used to it. We 
are aware that it will be said by some who are too lazy 
to investigate for themselves, and by others who are too 
wise already to learn, and therefore stand at a distance 
and cry "humimg,^ that the author is mad, insane, en- 
thusiastic, a v id should become the inmate of an insane 
asylum. Aware of all these, and knowing well the pre- 
judices of the int<T i stecl as well as the ignorant, the ef- 
fects of both, of which we have already felt our full 
share with an unsparing hand, from the great family of 
the "McNabbs" of "quality street," down to the fittla 



BAGG ON 

" John Johnsings" of "dirty lane.'* Yet we have 
ineffable consolation of pitying the one, and cherishing 
a most suveran contempt for the other. 

Having set out to chronicle a true history of the ef- 
fects of magnetism upon mind and matter from our own 
observation, nothing but the Great JMagnetizer of the 
Universe shall deter us from communicating what we 
have collected upon the subject, and expressing our in- 
ferences drawn therefrom. Clairvoyants vary in being 
good or bad, perfect or imperfect, exactly in proportion 
to the perfect extinction of all the external senses or 
not. I have never witnessed one go wrong or tell false 
where he was perfectly magnetized. We have said 
they will look through unnatural media and to a great 
extent. They "will also when well magnetized, tell the 
time correctly at all times to a second, without clock or 
watch, without any one in communication knowing the 
time, either, and will tell coirectly what has taken place 
for years heretofore. This we know for w T e have the 
proofs. 

Nothing was more common" than for my clairvoyants 
at night when put into the magnetic state, to tell what 
I had been doing through the day, to tell me what 
conversations I had held, what language I used, and 
what was said in return, as well as to warn me from 
certain pretended friends, (enemies in disguise) which 
proved true in the sequel. In reference to the truth of 
a clairvoyant I wish to be here understood to mean, 
when left free, and not willed by the magnetizer, and 
when the equilibrium of mind is not broken up by insu- 
lating the organs; for we can give a subject water and 
will it wine, and he will believe it. We can give him a 
handkerchief and excite philoprogenitiveness and will it 
to be a babe, and he will believe it; but of this when we 
comq to speak of its application to the proofs of Phreno- 
logy. 

We now come to speak of its application to disease. 






MAGNETISM. 203 

We have shown that life is the result of the operation 
of the magnetic fluids; that good health consisted in an 
equilibrium of these fluids, and that when the equilibri- 
um was broken up, disease was the result ; that all we 
/ eat and drank produced and imparted to the system 
MrTese fluids, while the grosser part entered into the for- 
mation, growth and preservation of the system; that 
the human system like every other system in nature, W 
animate or inanimate, had a centre and circumference ; /\ 
that there was constantly a force going from the former 
to the latter, and from the latter to the former, and that 
trie magnetic fluids were the causes of these forces, that 
attraction produced the centripetal forcg. and repulsion 
the centrifugal ; that these forces were constant, both 
going on at the same time in the same organ, and that 
sometimes one predominated over the other; that when 
regulsion prevailed over the attractions an increase of 
temperature w T as the result, and that when the centrip- 
etal got the upper hand, diminution of temperature w T as 
the consequence, or cold produced. 



CHAPTER XL 

DISEASE A WANT OF EQUILIBRIUM OF THE MAGNETIC 
FLUIDS— -HOMCEOPATHY ALLCEOPATHY. 

To elucidate our theory of disease when on anatomy 
and physiology, we took a paroxism of fever and ague. 
We endeavored to show that the cold fit was the pre- 
dominancy of the centripetal force, or that of attraction, 
and the hot fit of repulsion, and that the sweating stage 
was the result of the equilibrium formed between these 
extremes, and that oxygen and hydrogen gases were 
neutralized, and produced the perspiration as well as the 
flow of urine from the kidneys, and by that means re- 
stored the equilibrium. We might here notice the an- 









204 BAGG ON 

alogy of these phenomena, with that of the storm cloud, 
which is produced by the same forces, in the same man- 
ner, and compare the rain of one, with the perspiration 
of the other; both produce a diminution of temperature, 
and both serve to produce healthy states; the one of the 
system, the other of the atmosphere. Nine times out 
of ten, when a patient complains of sickness, it is attrib- 
uted to taking cold r whether true or not, and the treat- 
ment is regulated accordingly, of which now-a-days it 
is divided into four kinds; that of the matron with her 
catmint and tansy, gill-grow-over-the-ground, feather- 
few, cato-comstock, and christopher-catneap;" the 
Thompsonian with his lobelia, cayenne, steam and oth- 
er preparations, mathematically numbered to correspond 
with the number of the disease; the homoeopathist with 
his exalted infintesimal doses, under the motto of " si- 
milia similibus;" and lastly the allceopathist with his jal- 
lap, calomel, and the lancet, under the motto of contra- 
ria, contrariis. These four classes of practitioners em- 
brace pretty much the whole of the practice of medi- 
cine of this couutry. The theory of the two first are 
the same and only differ with each other by differing in 
gender, and occuping the extremes of the same system 
of practice. The two latter are antipodes in theory and 
practice and as different as the poles, and as far apart in 
their prescriptions. 

In what manner does cold operate to produce disease, 
but by breaking up the equilibrium above alluded to, by 
increasing the centripetal to predominate over the cen- 
trifugal force, and thereby producing an extreme, from 
which, agreeable to our law, the other extreme soon 
follows, which alternations of extremes from these an- 
tagonizing forces constitute the disease itself. Have we 
not already clearly shown that cold is the magnetic flu- 
ids in a state of attraction, and must of necessity tend 

len applied to the system, to produce attraction or a 
tendency to the centre, while magnetism in a state of 



ids i 
whc 



MAGNETISM. 205 

. rej3ui§i£n or what is called heat, applied to the system, 
produces its kind — repulsion, or the force from the cen- 
tre to the surface to predominate 1 Hence, when the 
good old matron goes to work with her hot drinks, teas, 
steaming bricks and billets of wood, it is to reproduce 
the lost equilibrium in these forces. The system by be- 
ing exposed to too much magnetism in a state of attrac- 
tion or cold, has given way to that particular force, and 
becomes diseased, and the good benevolent soul goes to 
work to balance it by increasing the antagonizing one 
repulsion, but full as often produces the other extreme 
with such increased force as to produce consequences, 
worse than to have left nature to reproduce her own 
equilibrium. If her teas or infusions are not too strong 
however, or loaded with too much magnetism in a state 
of repulsion, (heat) being composed of carbon, hydro- 
and oxygen, they contribute to restore that equili- 
brium that cold has broken up, and are therefore bene- 
ficial. These equilibriums show themselves by perspi- 
i ration and an increased flow from the kidneys. Not so 
\ with the Thomsonian steamer, ignorant of both anato- 
1 my and physiology as well as the operation of the vari- 
j ous remedies, his faith is predicated upon as he suppo- 
\ ses, the great friend of man, heat or caloric, and having 
.confidence and enthusiasm in himself and his theory above 
the matron, proportioned to his gender, ignorance, self- 
esteem and organ of wonder, he throws into and around 
the system, his friend, without judgment, stint or stop- 
ping place, from cayenne pepper, capsicum, hot water 
and blocks, up to the most extreme heat sufterable. 

Thus they, knowing nothing of the powers of life or 
iu what it consists, disregard the vital principle, pour in 
the universal friend in every form both direct and indi- 
rect, and were it not for this self equalizing principle of 
magnetism, life many times could not remain for an 
hour, and like the steam engine without a safety valve, 
would soon burst and become destitute of animation. — 






206 BAOG ON 

In diseases of that class where the centrifugal force 
wants increasing, which cannot be known without a 
knowledge of at least physiology, this treatment is good 
and if conducted with prudence and stopped when the 
equilibrium is produced, is valuable, but is as detrimen- 
tal to the other class depending on the antagonizing 
force, as it is beneficial in this. Hence in the general 
treatment of all kinds of diseases, of directly opposite 
symptoms and effects, by one remedy, it sometimes cures 
surprisingly quick, and in others, as suddenly kills. The 
results of the former have been lauded to the skies, and 
the latter buried with their unfortunate victims; for 
dead men tell no tales. Thus they go on with the 
greatest assurance imaginable, literally verifying the 
proverb that they who know nothing, fear nothing, but 
yet have their disciples and advocates. If by this treat- 
ment they fail both to cure or to kill,. their next and on- 
ly resort is to lobelia, as an emetic; and how does this 
as well as all other emetics operate to cure disease 1 — 
Notwithstanding this, as well as all other classes of phy- 
sicians will tell you, that they throw up the cause of dis- 
ease, and will harp over, give a philosophic disquisition 
on, and gravely point out in the ejections themselves 
the cause of this, and that disease. Emetics never act in 
any other manner, than to produce an equilibrium in 
the magnetic forces by the simple process of a reversion 
of the poles of the stomach, and the shock and agitation 
of that organ and those associated. They are there- 
fore valuable when other things fail, and sometimes are 
hard to be dispensed with, but should never be given 
till other means fail, as they are the most indirectly de- 
bilitating remedies for the stomach, known. But still to 
the ignorant who are at a loss what to give from a want 
of a sufficient knowledge of the cause of animal life or 
the law by which it is governed we would recommend 
them, (like Murray, in his grammar when he could not 
parse a word agreeable to his rules, to throw it into the 



MAGNETISM. 207 

common sink of adverbs, and call it that part of speech,) 
to give an emetic as the best equalizer of the magnetic 
forces in the system, of the same kind. The only objection 
to their use is their great debilitating influence upon the 
stomach. This class of remedies are probably the cause 
of more dyspepsias than all other causes put together, 
but a patient had better have these than die, if we are 
acquainted with no better method. 

The homoeopathic -&^&t£jn of practice consists in giv- 
ing, in a diseased state, that remedy that, in a state of 
health, will produce the same condition that then exists, 
or a similar disease for that which it is given to cure. 
The author of this system, as well as his disciples, tells 
us frankly, that they have no theory, but give us a col- 
lection of facts to substantiate the principle and doctrine. 
We have been fortunate enough to discover that it is 
based and predicated upon the magnetic fluids for its 
principle of cure, and is therefore reduced to a general 
principle from which it can never vary, is philosophical, 
must be believed, will prevail, and ultimately become 
established as the only true system of practice of med- 
icine throughout the civilized world. They prescribe 
upon the principle, that when the equilibrium that con- 
stitutes health is broken up, and they wish to restore it, 
that the only course is to push that extreme force with 
another similar, and that one will antagonize the other, 
and produce the equilibrium, whereas that if a remedy 
is given contrary to the one that already exists, agreeable 
to the law of reaction, it will attract and produce the 
other extreme, and instead of obtaining that equilibrium 
on which health depends, it will serve to perpetuate and 
continue these alternations of extremes which constitute 
disease itself. Hence their general rule in the exhibition 
of remedies of similia simillbus, instead of contraria con- 
trariis. In other words, the homoeopathic system of 
practice is based upon the principle, that if a patient is 
affected with a diarrhea, give an infintesimal dose of 
10 



208 BAGG ON 






that medicine that would produce a cathartic effect in a 
natural state. If constipation is present, give an astrin- 
gent. If pain is present in the stomach, give that rem- 
edy, that in a healthy state, would produce the same 
disease. If a patient is burned or scalded, hold it to the 
fire or apply hot alcohol or spirits turpentine. If a pa- 
tient is frozen, apply cold snow, or scraped potatoe, or 
any other cold remedy. In a word, the theory of the 
homoeopathic system of practice is general, and so far 
as the nature of the remedy consists, is based upon the 
principle of not giving remedies that are opposed to the 
effects they produce, but to give those that produce a 
similar affection to the disease for which they may be 
prescribed. 

Thus much with regard to the nature or principle of 
the remedy. They have another point, and these two 
form all the general principles of their practice. It is 
of giving their remedies in very minute doses, and re- 
peating or changing to another until a cure is affected. 
For instance, if one homoeopathic remedy does not pro- 
duce a cure, or raises up another set of symptoms dif- 
ferent from what preceeded, give another homoeopathic 
remedy, or a medicine that will imitate in its action in 
a healthy state these present symptoms. Should this 
fail, and raise up symptoms not exactly corresponding 
to the symptoms of health, give another, and so on, un- 
til you arrive at the cure. The theory of giving minute 
doses, and carrying it to such extremes as inculcated in 
Hannaman's Organon, is based upon the atomic theory 
of Dalton, or at least may be accounted for by that 
law, and is therefore philosophical and true. The great 
length to which it is carried — to the millionth part of 
a grain, is probably an extreme which is not likely to 
be serviceable in the cure of disease. It matters not, 
perhaps, whether the material substances be large in 
quantity, or be exalted by agitation or trituration. If 
medicines are exalted by shaking in a vial, or by rub- 



MAGNETISM. 209 

bing with a pestle, we can not see by what manner, 
except by infusing into the material substance the mag- 
netic fluids. This we know can be done, because we 
have scarcely ever put a patient into a magnetic state 
without magnetizing for them a piece of money or me- 
talic substance, such as a gold piece or quarter of a 
dollar, or something of the kind, to put them to sleep 
whenever they wished, which, when well done, never 
fails so to do. We also magnetize other material sub- 
stances, and will them, when applied externally or taken 
internally, to produce certain wished-for results, which, 
in those susceptible of influence, never fail. Now wheth- 
er these minute atoms are exalted by attenuation, by 
friction or exposure to light, or both, or by the power 
of the will of him who agitates or rubs them, conveyed 
through the lingers and eye alone, or all together com- 
bined, we are not able to determine. He who thus rubs 
them in a mortar with pestle, or agitates them in a vial, 
must at least desire to have them become exalted, or 
he would be acting "without motive; but this is the very 
motive that impels him to act upon them at all. The 
will, therefore, must havg more or less effect in produ- 
cing what is called their exaltation, and probably all. 
Again, we know that a grain of calomel will operate 
more severe at some times as a cathartic upon a person 
than a dozen, and more severe upon one person than 
twenty will upon another. This can not be explained 
on any other principle than that of definite proportions, 
touched on in part first. Substances and principles and 
things must have a right relative action on each other 
for effect. This depends upon their ultimate atoms, 
which must be in certain proportions to each other. 
Now we can readily conceive that these can be exalted 
separately by the will, by infusing or throwing into them 
an increased quantity of magnetism, so as increase their 
operation, and perhaps also they may be increased by 
the absorption of light by friction, which is the same 



210 BAGG ON 

thing, as light and magnetism are one and the same 
principle., "No* matter in what manner remedies act, 
they are all calculated to produce or break up that equi- 
librium on which health depends. Now if we can mag- 
netise a substance so as to put a subject into the maxi- 
mum state of mesmerism, can not we magnetize other 
substances so as to produce effect sufficient to remove 
disease? Certainly we produce a physical change in 
the one case; can not we so operate upon a natural rem- 
edy as to produce such a physical change as to cure dis- 
ease by the same means] If we can throw these fluids 
into the system through the nerves, so as to produce 
this effect, is it not reasonable to believe that we can 
thrpw it into material substances, and give them by the 
mouth, and produce the same effect by this avenue? 
Do not certain medicines produce spasms and convul- 
sions? Has not the sight of frightful objects produced 
the same effects ? Has not the same consequences en- 
sued from harsh and improper language falling upon the 
ear? Are not the same consequences produced by the 
inhalation of certain effluvium? Will not certain sub- 
stances, applied to the skin externally, produce the same 
symptoms that it will when* swallowed? How does 
tobacco and other narcotics operate, but in this manner? 
Mr. Hannaman, the discoverer of the homoeopathic 
system, tells us that disease is the result of the spirit of 
life operating upon the immaterial part. Speaking of 
the healthy condition of man, he says, "the immaterial 
vital principal which animates the material body, exer- 
cises an absolute sway, and maintains all its parts in the 
most admirable order and harmony, both of sensation 
and action, so that our indwelling rational spirit may 
freely employ these living, healthy organs for the su- 
perior purposes of our existence." " The material or- 
ganism deprived of its vital principle, is incapable of 
sensation, action, or self-preservation; it is the immate- 
rial vital principle only animating the former in its healthy 






MAGNETISM. 



211 



and morbid condition, that imparts to it all sensation, 
and enables it to perform its functions. In disease, this 
spontaneous and immaterial vital principle pervading 
the physical organism, is primarily deranged by the 
dynamic influence of a morbific agent, which is inimical 
to life. Only the vital principle thus disturbed, can give 
to the organism its abnormal sensations, and incline it 
to the irregular actions, which we call disease; for as 
an invisible principle, only cognizable through its opera- 
tions in the organs, its morbid disturbance can be per- 
ceived solely by the means of the expression of disease 
in the sensations and actions of that side of the organ- 
ism exposed to the senses of the physician, and by-stand- 
ers; or in other words, by the morbid symptoms, and can 
be indicated in no other manner. It is solely the mor- 
bidly affected vital principle which brings forth disease.' 5 
Again, in a note to the above last paragraph, he says, 
"In w r hat manner the vital principle produces morbid 
indications in the system, that is, how it produces dis- 
ease, is to a physician a useless question, and therefore 
will ever remain unanswered. Only that which is ne- 
cessary for him to know of disease, and which is fully 
sufficient for the purpose of cure, has the Lord of life 
rendered evident to his senses. Disease, therefore, con- 
sidered as it is by alaeopathists as something separate 
from the living organism, and the vital principle which 
animates it as something hidden internally and material, 
how subtle soever its nature may be supposed, is a non- 
entity, which could only be considered in heads of ma- 
terial mould, and which for ages hitherto has given to 
medicine all those pernicious distinctions which consti- 
tute it a mischievous art.'" Again, he says, "the organ- 
ism is indeed the material instrument of life, but without 
that animation which is derived from the instinctive sen- 
sibility and control of the vital principle, its existence 
is as unconceivable as that of a vital principle without 
an organism. Consequently both constitute a unit, al- 
19* 



812 



BAGG ON 



though in case of comprehension, our minds may sepa- 
rate this unity into two ideas." This then, constitutes 
the theory of the great father of the Homoeopathic sys- 
tem. That man is composed of spirit and matter. That 
they are so united as to form a whole, an individual, a 
man. That he is liable to disease. That this disease 
is an affection of the spirit, showing itself upon the ma- 
terial machine, and consequently that remedies should 
be given to operate upon the spirit to cure all diseases. 
That the symptoms of this spirit show themselves upon 
the material body, and never can be detected by the 
natural man; and that it is useless in the physician to 
attempt to look for the proximate cause (as we suppose) 
because he mentions in other parts of his work, of getting 
"a history of the case, his social habits, and other causes, 
because he can never arrive at it, and must give his 
remedies so as produce health, by giving that medicine 
which, in a healthy state, w T ill produce the symptoms 
then existent upon the system, "similia similibus." This 
spirit he calls the nervous fluid, and therefore uses these 
terms as synonomous. In bringing forth his remedies 
to operate upon this spirit, (or "Dynamic Virtual") he 
speaks of giving it in small minute doses, and exalting 
them by shaking and by triturition, we give his own 
words. "The homoeopathic healing art develops for its 
purposes the immaterial (dynamic) virtues of medicinal 
substances, and to a degree previously unheard of, by 
means of a peculiar and unheard of process. , By this 
process it is that they become penetrating, operative 
and remedial, even those that, in a natural or a crude 
state, betray not the least medicinal power upon the hu- 
man system. If two drops of a mixture, of equaLparts 
of alcohol and the recent juice of any medicinal plant, 
be diluted with ninety-eight drops of alcohol, in a vial 
capable of containing one hundred and thirty drops, and 
the whole twice shaken together, the medicine becomes 
exalted in energy (portenzirt) to the first development 



MAGNETISM. 



213 



of power, or as it may be denominated, the first potence. 
The process is to be continued through twenty-nine ad- 
ditional vials, each of equal capacity with the first, and 
each containing ninety-nine drops of the spirits of wine, 
so that every successive ^vial, after the first, being fur- 
nished with one drop from the vial, or dilution immedi- 
ately preceeding, (which had just been been twice sha- 
ken) is in its tnrn to be shaken twice, remembering to 
number the dilntion of the vial upon the cork as the 
operation proceeds. These manifestations are to be 
conducted thus, through all the vials, from the first up 
to the thirtieth or millioneth development of power, 
w T hich is the one in most genera! use. All other sub- 
stances, excepting sulphur, are exalted in energy by at- 
tenuation in the form of powder, by means of three 
hours' triturition in a mortar, to the millionth degree. 
Of this one grain was then dissolved and brought through 
twenty-seven vials, by a process similar to that employ- 
ed in the case of vegetable juices, up to the thirtieth de- 
velopment of power. Thus then, the medicine he sup- 
poses to be exalted in energy, by friction or agitation in 
vials, and by attenuation by pestle and mortar. In what 
manner consists the rationale of this exaltation? It can 
not consist in the increase of its material part. The 
medicine is no heavier. In what then does it consist? 
Is it in consequence of infusing into the mass an increas- 
ed quantity of the magnetic fluids, and thereby, by the 
attenuation, separating or reducing the mass into a great- 
er quantity of ultimate molicules or atoms, by the great- 
er quantity of these fluids, and if so, do these smaller 
minute atoms possess as much or more power than those 
of greater magnitude? Is this produced by the sim- 
ple mechanical means only, or, as we have before said, 
by the power of the will from the extremity of the fin- 
gers, and through the medium of the eye, or all? Does 
light mix with and enter into its pores? And if by 
these, are we sure it will produce the effects wished, 



214 



BAGG OX 



X 



without the power of the will? Does the natural med- 
icinal effect of the medicine control its action? Must 
it have a kind of primordial propensity to produce an 
effect of a certain kind discovered, or is that controlled 
by the influence of the will] That it might be produ- 
ced by the infusion of the magnetic fluids, through and 
by the will, we have shown as above, and might add 
that various substances, such as milk, whey, water, cal- 
omel, and less inert -substances, have been magnetized 
by us to complete success, which we shall show or men- 
tion when we come to speak of Antipathic remedies. 
Some might suppose that it was an objection that the 
fingers did not come in contact with the medicine, or 
within the sphere of influence sufficient for an effect. 
But when we reflect that a magnetized patient can be 
effected in an adjoining room, across the street, or at 
the distance of a mile, so as to be put into a perfect 
magnetic state, when we know that every pass we 
make at a subject at the extremity of the room, he will 
attract or repel it, so as to give it a distinct motion; 
that at that distance, we can will up or attract his arm, 
and bring upon a line at right angles with his body, then 
raise it as high into air as it can be stretched, or depress 
it to the floor, and there fix it beyond his will. When 
we are assured of all these things, and sum them up as 
a collection of inductive facts, with a variety of others 
that might be mentioned, coupled with the known fact 
that we can make our passes through a cane or pole, 
to even better execution than the hand itself in contact, 
and recollect that the Electric Eel has the power to 
throw electricity through the hook, line and pole, in 
shocks with such force and intensity as to palsy the arm 
of him who is fishing for them; we can not but be- 
lieve that the " exaltation" of the homoeopathic remedy 
is in consequence of the magnetic fluids infused by the 



power of the will, and that alone. But again, 



we 



find 



all material substances governed by the magnetic fluids. 



MAGNETISM. 215 

All substances are either attracted to, and fall to the 
center of the earth, or are repelled from the center and 
fly, in the form of vapor or gas, into atmospheric air. 
This is owing to these immaterial fluids, and not to the 
• material, for without the immaterial part, all matter 
would be a cold, sluggish mass, without motion or ac- 
tion. All substances, then, are of a mixed nature, ma- 
terial and immeterial. Their form, color and texture, 
are owing to the immaterial imponderable part, and the 
raw material the material part. If then, in a state of 
nature, we find these results, these magnetic fluids fill- 
ing all immensity, moulding all matter into various 
shapes, forms and dimensions, by the immutable and 
eternal law of their government, can we not see that 
by a process of the will, and perhaps by agitation and 
triturition, exposed to light or these fluids, all substances 
can be exalted in their natural propensity or condition 
to produce a greater effect? Can we not see that rem- 
edies, are made like the body itself, constituted of two 
natures, spirit and matter^ and that when taken into the 
system as medicine or food, their spiritual part supports 
life and animation, while the material is attracted, enters 
into, maintains and sustains the material part, while that 
which is unnecessary is repelled from the system by the 
various emunctories of the bowels, kidneys, liver, lungs, 
and skin. Substances then, possess, in a natural state, 
a power to produce a medicinal effect. Some possess 
more magnetism, and others less, and by this means are 
more medicinal. Others, compounded of simples, with 
their elements differently arranged, operate on a func- 
tion, with its particles also arranged in a prrticular form, 
in a peculiar manner, and produce certain results. This 
is owing to a different arrangement of their ultimate 
a toms. For sugar, and vinegar, and starch, as well as 
alcohol, are made of the same elements, although so 
different in effect, as well as different in taste. This is 
ow r ing to the different proportions of the elementary 



216 



BAGG ON 



V 



atoms in the compound. It is then owing to the j)QQy- 
liar arrangement of the particles in the compound or 
simples, relative to the particular arrangement of the 
same ultimate atoms of an organ of the body, on which 
and through which it passes, that causes it to have a 
certain effect, together with the particular quantity of 
the magnetic fluids in both, for all medicines are resov- * 
able into astringents, or the contrary, which is in effect 
attraction or repulsion. Thus much in regard to the 
exaltation of the homoeopathic remedies. It now re- 
mains to account, by our theory and principles, for the 
truth and utility of the principle of similia similibus. 
It will be kept strictly in mind that our theory or prin- 
ciple is that all motion or action throughout nature, an- 
imate and inanimate, in the three kingdoms of mineral, 
vegetable and animal, is that every organ, function, or 
simple body, operated upon and moulded as it were by 
the magnetic fluids, has a center and circumference, 
from a dew drop up to a globe, and that these fluids are 
constantly in motion from center to circumference, and 
from circumference to center, and that both are in ope- 
ration at the same time, in the same substance or ulti- 
mate atom; that they are constantly tending towards 
an equilibrium, and as constantly tending from it, and 
that that force which it possesses of tending from the 
center to the surface, we term repulsion, and that ten- ' 
dency which it has of approaching to the center, we 
term attraction; that these forces are sometimes equal 
to one another, and when this is the result, they are said 
to be in a state of equilibrium, but that this is more or 
less always varying, and that consequently sometimes 
one predominates, and sometimes the other, as shown 
in chap, ix, and this varying from one extreme to the 
other constituted the health or disease, as w r ell as the 
composition and decomposition of all material sub- 
stances. We also showed that good health consisted 
in this equilibrium by the action through the medium of 






MAGNETISM. 217 

the vessels. That the animal economy showed through 
the whole a series of antagonizing vessels, in proof of 
our antagonizing principle. Showed that heat was the 
result of the centrifugal force, (repulsion), and cold the 
result of the predominacy of centripetal force, (attrac- 
tion), and that when in either extreme, disease was the 
result, dibility direct from attraction, and indirect from 
repulsion. Now 7 all the physician has to do, when call- 
ed, is to produce the equilibrium which constitutes good 
health. This is to be done by agents best calculated 
for the purpose; by remedies internal and external. 
These remedies, we labored to prove, act and operate 
through one common medium, or by one principle, mag- 
netism. We stated as a law regulating these fluids, that 
one extreme always follows another, and the quickness 
of the change or opposite effect being produced, is in 
proportion to intensity of the action. This is upon the 
immutable law of magnetism, that those of the same 
names or conditions, as north and north, or south and 
south, or positive and positive, or negative and negative, 
repel each other; whereas, those of different names, 
natures or conditions, attract one another. If we ap- 
ply the north pole of one magnet to the north pole of 
another, left free to move like the compass needle, it 
repels that end from it, turns it completely around upon 
its axis, and attracts the south end. So also with all 
other substances, charged in the same manner, one pos- 
itive and the other negative, attract each other; where- 
as, in substances charged or filled with both positive or 
both negative, repel one another. That in nature, one 
extreme always follows another, has long since been 
known, acknowledged as an axiom, and passed into a 
proverb. If the weather is uncommonly sultry and hot 
to day, look to morrow or sooner, (depending on the 
intensity) for an extreme of cold in exact proportion. 
If it is uncommonly calm and still, not a breath of 
air stirring, look out for a gale immediately. If, on the 



218 



BAGG ON 



contrary, the temperature is moderate and temperate, 
with a little motion in the air, it will continue a longer 
time, or until gradually an extreme takes place, and 
when at its height, the other extreme rapidly follows as 
a natural result, and in a direct quickness of transition, 
in proportion to the intensity of the preceeding extreme. 
This law, we have before shown, is general, and there- 
fore applicable to all objects, subjects, principles and 
systems of objects in nature. We have seen its appli- 
cation in theology, law, medicine, friendships, and all 
the transactions of human life, and goes to substantiate 
the homoeopathic principle of similia similiabus. 

Where is the benevolent man who has contributed to 
the pecuniary relief of an object, but has been sooner 
or later paid off, and that in direct proportion to the 
sacrifice, by ingratitude, by actual injury in return, by 
being paid as the cat did the owl] Where is the poli- 
tician, who has contributed by every effort in his pow- 
er to elevate to office his friend beyond any other, but 
who, when he had "come into his kingdom," had paid 
him off with ingratitude, and elevated one instead who 
stood opposed to his elevation] Do a man a favor to 
day, and he is your enemy to morrow. On the contra- 
ry, do him an injury, and then put yourself in his way 
with the olive branch, and he is your friend. Men and 
brutes are alike, at least in one respect. "The more 
you whip a dog the better he will like you." The more 
you injure a man, and then extend to him the hand of 
friendship, the better he will like you also. The globe 
can be circumnavigated in going in either direction, east 
or west, but if two vessels of equal speed should make 
the attempt in starting, both in one direction, and one 
should get the start twenty-four hours, one could never 
overtake the other, or have any influence over its ope- 
rations. It has long since passed into a maxim, that in 
"fighting Indians successfully, you must give them their 
own play." It is no less true with civilized man. An 



MAGNETISM. 219 

eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, was the incul- 
cation of the Jewish law; life for life, blood for blood, 
is that of our own; both founded upon philosophy and 
our general principle, or law of mind and matter. Self 
preservation is the first law of nature — this can not be 
discharged without following our rule, and oppose force 
to force. 

It has long been the practice of hunters and travellers 
on the extensive prairies of the west, when they find 
them on fire, and fast approaching, with the fury and 
speed of the war horse, instead of throwing cold water, 
to set another fire to counteract or oppose it, as the 
most successful and sure. One repels the other, and 
mutually neutralize each other's force and rapidity, and 
stops its further progress in that direction. From the 
novelty of the subject it is impossible to define the ex- 
act proportions or law of this revulsion or reversion of 
the poles, but we anticipate that it will yet become re- 
duced to a mathematical certainty, and be well under- 
stood. 

In 1838, while travelling upon one of the almost in- 
terminable prairies of the Northwest Territory for five 
or six days, a friend and myself were suddenly struck 
with what, to us, had we been in a region of water, 
we should, and did at first, deem a water spout. The 
prairie was on fire, but to our security, had passed over 
the direction of our path, and was then burning towards 
the north. The sky was clear, not a cloud to be seen 
for five days save over this blaze of combustion, issuing 
from which was vapor from a broad base, extensive as 
the fire in action, rising into the atmosphere like radii, 
and converging to a point at about two miles height, 
and issuing "from this point were the most black, dense 
and angry looking clouds (like pent smoke from the com- 
bustion 6f fire-proof roofed buildings, in cities) imagin- 
able. These again diverged in every direction, from 
which water in the form'of rain was constantly de- 
20 



220 



BAGG ON 



scending for five days, and probably continued as long 
as the prairie burnt. It was in the form of an hour- 
glass, or two cones with apexes turned together. It 
was a sublime spectacle to behold, and only required 
the lightning's flash and the thunder's bolt, to render it 
perfect. Here, then, upon a large scale> with the naked 
eye, was seen the attractions alternating with repulsions; 
prairie grass and the oxygen of the atmosphere produ- 
cing repulsion, and by the process of combustion, libe- 
rating the magnetic fluids from a broad base; these con- 
verged to a point by a certain law of medium, to con- 
verge in an intensity of repulsion, and when united to 
a point at once changed to attraction, and by this means, 
the hitherto ascending vapor, changed to rain, and was 
attracted to the earth. Thus attraction and repulsion 
were both going on at the same time, and produced by 
the combustion of the prairie grass. This w T as the on- 
ly case that I have ever discovered by the naked eye, 
so as to be distinctly seen. 

This case, with others less clear to the sense of vis- 
ion, but substantiated by an innumerable number of re- 
sults, prove to us that the moment these magnetic rays 
are converged to a point, they at once separate and are 
the cause or point between attraction and repulsion. 
The law governing this convergence and divergence, 
attraction and repulsion, at the present state of science, 
we are not able to explain, but these poles are reversed 
with a rapidity in proportion to their intensity, for one 
extreme at all times rapidly follows another. In- the 
human system, if a person become stimulated to an ex- 
cess, by wine or ardent spirits, the corresponding de- 
bility is in direct proportion to the preceecling elevation. 
If a person is excited by combativeness, he becomes 
correspondingly meek. The passions are all indebted 
to this law of reversion of the poles; love and hatred 
are only extremes of a continuous line of feeling, like 
the poles, and so of all the rest. 



MAGNETISM. 221 

While lecturing publicly at the City Hall in this city, 
I commenced to excite upon my subject the organ of 
philo-progenitiveness, and when about to respond, a gen- 
tleman called for some other manifestation. I left this 
and gratified the auditor, and then recommenced on that 
organ again, but to my astonishment, destructiveness re- 
sponded, and instead of fondling " little sissy/' as he 
called her, thro wed her from him saying. "I will kill 
her, take her away.' 7 I then excited destructiveness, 
and up came philo-progenitiveness, thus showing a per- 
fect reversion of the poles, which are but the extremes 
of the same feeling. I then demesmerized both, and 
again excited philo-progenitiveness, and it responded 
correctly, as did also destructiveness. I accounted for 
this to the audience by stating, that having left that or- 
gan excited to a point almost sufficient to cause a reac- 
tion, and then, throwing upon it a second charge, both 
were sufficient to over stimulate the organ, and produce 
a perfect reversion, and produce the other extreme; but 
our limits will not permit us to pursue this branch of 
the subject further, (although it would afford matter for 
volumes) except to say that nothing is more common in 
persons naturally modest and unassuming, when stimu- 
lated to an excess with wine, to have a reversion of the 
poles of the manifestations of mind, and become impu- 
dent and boisterous. It makes the irreligious give lec- 
tures on morality and religion, and the religious to take 
the name of God in vain. It opens the fist of the miser 
and closes that of the benevolent. In a word, the poles 
of the system are all liable, by excess of stimulation, to 
a complete reversion, like the compass needle, which 
we have seen, is produced in a particular manner, agree- 
able to a particular law, the which may be taken to 
elucidate and exemplify all t)ther cases in nature. A 
compass needle points, for instance, in one direction; 
if we wish to reverse its poles, how would we go to 
work? Would we apply the north end of another mag- 



2'22 BAGG ON 

net to the south end? No, not at all, for that would in- 
crease the difficulty, and fix it more firmly in its present 
position. How then? We would apply the north pole 
to the north pole, or the south pole to the south pole, 
or those similar to those similar, (similia similibus) and 
by the immutable and fixed law of the principle, it would 
repel one end and attract the other, and thus produce 
the extreme desired. This law of magnetism, regula- 
ting the compass needle, and here exhibited, may be 
taken as a general diagram for the operations and effects 
of substances of all matter in nature, animate or inan- 
imate, of whatever state or condition, for magnetism 
being the cause of all motion in nature, obeys the same 
law, whether in a bit of steel, balanced on a pivot, like 
the compass needle, or in the human system, balanced 
by antagonizing vessels; all have poles or extremes, 
and both and all are subject to the same law. This 
compass has but two poles or extremes, but the human 
system is a collection or series of poles, as we have be- 
fore shown. Hence the homoeopathic system of prac- 
tice is philosophic, and the only true system of practice, 
and is indebted to our principle of magnetic attraction 
and repulsion foa its certain results. If any one wishes 
to learn that system of practice correctly, and under- 
stand it philosophically, he must necessarily become ac- 
quainted with the laws of magnetism, and their opera- 
tions in the three kingdoms of matter, before he can 
become skilled in that science, 



magnetism. 223 

CHAPTER XII. 

DISEASES ALLCEOPATHIC REMEDIES, OR THE COMMON 

PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, AS TAUGHT IN 
OUR COLLEGES. 

The practice of medicine, as taught in the schools at 
the present day, is a great share of it on the homoeo- 
pathic principle. Every remedy, except emetics, and 
cathartics that are given internally, that are not given 
according to that principle, are detrimental to the pa- 
tient. This result is, however, accidental and unknown, 
and not appreciated by those who administsr them. In- 
stead of going on and prescribing upon a well settled 
general principle, they, with great gravity, affect to 
single out the cause, and then throw their darts, select- 
ed from the jallap and calomel quiver, at the supposed 
object. This cause they believe to be a material sub- 
stance, and therefore use material agents for its remo- 
val. Now, if our theory of disease be correct; if life 
be the result of the action or motion of the magnetic 
fluids, operating upon material matter, and if good health 
consists in an equilibrium of this action, and disease the 
extremes or want of it, then the enquiry after material 
causes is worse than useless, and every departure from 
giving remedies from the general principle of simUia 
siinUibus^ or those that .will produce in the healthy state 
a disease similar, is detrimental to the patient, and should 
not be administered. The science of medicine falls far 
short of perfection, and probably, from the nature of 
things, ever will. Death, from a bold but ignorant 
and unfeeling practitioner, is easily produced in a sum- 
mary manner, even under the imposing seal of a diplo- 
ma. Our best authors tell us that diseases are constant- 
ly changing, from year to year, and almost, we know 
by our own experience, with the moon and wind. 
What is the cause of this change? Is it not produced 
by a change in the seasons — the weather? What is 
^20* 




224 BAGG ON 

the cause of these? Is it not planetary influence? And 
what is planetary influence but the manifestation, varia- 
tion, or effect of the magnetic fluids, producing one or 
other of the extremes which constitute disease itself, 
produced by the influence of the sun, moon, and other 
planets, operating in a peculiar manner upon the earth 
and all animals and vegetables upon its surface. Was 
not the black death of Europe, the plague, the cholera, 
and many other sweeping epidemics, the result of plan- 
etary influence, operating upon our earth in a peculiar 
manner] Do we not find dysentaries, diarrheas, catarrhs 
and common colds to be epidemical, and dependent upon 
a particular state of the atmosphere? Have the planets 
any other action or influence upon each other than 
through the medium of the magnetic fluids, by attrac- 
tion and repulsion? If the earth is affected in a partic- 
ular manner by a neighboring planet, does not every 
thing, animal and vegetable, upon its surface participate 
of the same influence? Does one planet operate on 
another through the medium or by the influence of any 
thing material ? If not, disease is at all times from an 
immaterial imponderable cause. 

We have said that a great share, and we will here 
add the only valuable share of remedies that are ad- 
ministered for the cure of disease, as taught in our col- 
leges, and in common practice from the disciples of 
these, are homoeopathic. The best remedies of this prac- 
tice for scalds and burns are hot alcohol, spirits of tur- 
pentine, or holding the part to the fire. For inflama- 
tion of the eyes, camphor,- opium, spirits of wine, infu- 
sion of cloves and cinnamon, and other hot stimulating 
washes, are decidedly preferable to the antagonistic 
class. Calomel and ipecacuanha for diarrhea, in small 
doses. Emetics for sickness and nausea of the stomach; 
cathartics for dysentary ; bleeding for active homorrhage; 
wine and brandy, and camphor, for typhoid or typhus 
fevers; preparations of mercury for the psora or itch; 



MAGNETISM. 225 

stimulating washes for all ulcers and sores; for acidity 
of the stomach, hard cider, vinegar, vitriolic and other 
acids, and for thirst, hot teas instead of cold water. 
These are some of the homoeopathic remedies used by 
the alloeopathists daily in practice, simply from habit, 
without knowing the wherefore, and without a general 
principle to guide them. 

Practitioners of this class believe calomel, jallap, 
scammony, aloes, buckthorn, salts, senna, and other ca- 
thartics, will operate, when given, as physic, but this is 
not certain, for sometimes they will not operate at all, 
and at others, directly in opposition to this, by reversing 
the poles and operate as emetics. So also with that 
class called emetics, they are not certain; they often 
operate directly reverse to their anticipations. Here 
we find our theory again exemplified. It depends upon 
both the state of the stomach and the quantity given. 
If we increase the attractive force beyond a certain 
point, we at once get the other extreme, vomiting. If, 
on the contrary, we increase the repulsive force to in- 
tensity from the stomach, it produces the other extreme, 
and increases the difficulty. Generally, however, if 
given with judgment, in regard to these forces in their 
then present state, connected with a discriminating 
knowledge of the temperament, they will operate pe- 
culiar to their several classes, and vomit or increase the 
natural resultant force of the stomach and bowels, as 
the case may be. No remedy is certain. It is all, from 
first to last, more or less the effect of experiment. 
Why do they fail] Is it not owing to the particular 
state of the nervous, the magnetic fluids, and who can 
operate on these with a material substance to a certain- 
ty? No one. It is the condition of mortality. Will 
>not one half, yes, a tithe of what will operate upon one 
produce the same effect upon another? Will not the 
same dose that will operate upon a person at one time 
scarcely produce little or no effect at another ? Tu 



226 



BAGG ON 






what is this owing, but to the predominacy of one or 
other of these forces at the time, in the general system, 
or particular organ, and the dose or quantity not being 
adapted to the particular state of that system or organ; 
hence, if a general rule, sure in its action, and certain 
in its results, such as anticipated in our theory of life 
and disease, termed homoeopathic, can be given, it can 
not but be desirable. We have said that disease itself 
consisted in the predominacy of one or the other of 
these forces over the other, and that when these ex- 
tremes take place, the resultant force of the two — the 
peristaltic motion of the stomach and bowels was in- 
creased or diminished from its natural action, which 
when, in a state of health, produced a movement as 
regular as the alternation of day and night, once in 
twenty-four hours, any departure from which showed 
that these centripetal and centrifugal forces were une- 
qual. This fact being the best index to health, have 
led physicians to look to results rather than causes, and 
to indiscriminately, on all occasions, under all circum- 
stances, to give cathartics, and prescribe for secondary 
results rather than regulate primary causes. Hence, 
when a physician is called now-a-days to a patient, no 
matter what the disease or condition, he is almost sure 
to give a cathartic, and in this country, calomel. 

If this does not cure, another, and if this fails, it is 
again repeated; should this not succeed, sometimes an 
emetic is given, or perhaps they bleed, and so on from 
day to day, till the patient is dangerously debilitated or 
death ensues, which suggested the sarcastic epitaph to 
be placed over the grave of one of their patients, of that 
great delineator of the human mind, the immortal Shak- 
spearc, in derision of this class of practitioners — " Once 
I was well, wished to be better, took physic, and here I 
lie." Generally in accute diseases these are given, one 
after another, perhaps alternated or combined with Do- 
vers powder, until the patient becomes so debilitated, 



MAGNETISM. 227 

that no more can be given, for fear of death, and still 
the disease continues, and the physician is brought to 
a stand. He then changes, from necessity, his treat- 
ment, and gives wine, brandy, and other stimulants, to 
just keep the breath of life in him, until he can produce 
a sore mouth with calomel and opium, and prepare him 
for a dentist, should he recover. This latter course is 
called an "alterative one;" thus he holds him up with 
one hand, and cuffs him with the other, until he has 
touched his " <xums," and his teeth seldom fail of getting 
" touched/' too. If he succeeds, he then takes another 
two weeks to cure the artificial disease, after which the 
patient gradually recovers, so as to be able to leave his 
room, but does not regain his strength for months, and 
is rendered for life more susceptible of changes of tem- 
perature, or what is vulgarly termed catching cold. — 
At other times, or with another class of practitioners, 
they commence and continue in this manner, and de- 
bilitate and weaken the patient down to death's door, 
and finding they can pursue this course no farther, they 

f are obliged to tack about, and make an attempt to fetch 
him back again where they found him. If he gets well, 

| it is good luck; if not, he either dies or goes into the 
hands of some "root concern," whose boldness and ig- 
norance are on a direct sympathy, who generally put on 
the quietas in a very short time, and relieve him of his 
troubles. Thus they commence and lead bim down stairs, 
and then back again up stairs, and if he does not faint 
on the way, or the disease leave him on the road, they 
know not what further to do. I appeal to the honest 
and candid, as well as to the scientific of the profession, 
if this is not the case in a majority of the common cases 
of the country] Is there any scientific skill in all this I 
Cannot a woman, yea, a minor, do as much? At any 
rate, cannot a yarifcee apothecary of one month's expe- 
rience, perform the whole? We acknowledge these 
emetics and carthartics, under certain circumstances, to 



228 BAGG ON 






be valuable remedies, and have experienced ourselves 
their beneficial consequences; but their indiscriminate 
use, on all occasions, for all diseases, under all circum- 
stances, is what we object to. Although they often 
cure disease timely, they as frequently leave consequen- 
ces upon the organs, that remain through life. Three- 
fourths of the diseases they are given for, can be cured 
in an hour, by directly restoring the. balance of these 
forces, and that without weakening the stomach and 
bowels, or deranging their regular action or motion. — 
They have yet to learn, that the force from mouth to 
anus, called in the books, the preristaltic motion of the 
stomach and bowels, is resultant of the two centripetal 
and centrifugal forces, and that they attack the branch- 
es instead of the root. They have yet to learn, that if 
they restore the equilibrium of these, the resultant force 
must, of necessity, be regular and healthy. They have 
yet to learn, that material causes never produce disease. 
They have yet to unlearn a multitude of gross errors, 
which have so slowly and slyly crept into practice, that 
habit and custom has rendered them almost invulnera- 
ble to the reason and judgment of both physicians and 
patients. Both are too much in the habit of thinking 
and believing, that in order to cure disease, something 
material or corporel must be removed from the system. 
This is their fatal error. Nothing is more common 
than to hear quacks, both upland and lowland, talk of, 
and tell of vomiting up, and carrying off and out of the 
system, the cause of disease in a sensible, tangible shape, 
and form, which is never the truth. To look to the 
ejection from the stomach the contents, or discharge 
from the bowels, or the urine from the kidneys, for the 
cause of disease, they might as well direct their lucid 
philosophical material enquiries, to not only the per- 
spiration of the skin, the sputa from the mouth, the wax 
from the ears, the tears from the lachrymal gland, the 
dandruff upon the hairy scalp, but the spirit of anima- 









MAGNETISM. 229 

tion expended in a sally of humor or wit, or the effer- 
vescence from an immoderate fit of laughter. What 
skill can there be, when we know not what to do, to 
resort to mercurials and make a patient's mouth sore I 
Does any one know, or can tell, how calomel acts upon 
the system, in the kill or cure of diseases! It produces 
great irritability of the nervous system, and an increase 
of the membraneous and glandular systems, and is this 
atil u O, no; it unlocks the whole system, and thereby 
cures diseases.'' But does it operate upon the spirit of 
life, or the material system 1 "It operates upon both and 
all — it is heating and cooling, irritating and assuaging, 
weakning and strengthening; in a word, it is the univer- 
sal panacea, the great antagonist of Pandora's box it- 
self." It does unlock the system, and not infrequently 
in conjunction with pounded ice, lets life itself slip out too 
easily altogether! But the other class of these alloeo- 
pathists, whose organs of self-esteem and firmness are a 
size or two less than the former, reminds one of the lady 
with her cook-book. She has her recipes for such and 
such kinds of fashionable cake, eat in such and such fami- 
lies, so much flour, eggs, butter, nutmeg, allspice, pepper, 
salt, cinnamon, cloves, &c. makes up the compound of 
a certain cake, but who knows or cares whether it is 
healthy ox not, if it be but fashionable and have the right 
taste, and is well gilded. The cake is not made for 
stomach, but the stomach must take the cake, regardless 
of consequences. 

So with this class of physicians, batches of pills in 
imitation of Lee's and others, are made up and compo- 
sed of antimony, jallap, calomel, gamboge, scammony, 
ipecac, aloes, soap and other ingredients, and if a pa* 
tient complains and calls for aid, two or three of these 
are crammed down his gullet, regardless of the particu- 
lar state or action of the stomach or vessels, simply like 
the cook-book practice, because they will operate as 
physic. If this does not cure, they are repeated again 



n. 



230 BAGG ON 

and again, until he becomes so debilitated, that it be- 
comes necessary to take another course. This is the 
fashionable practice of the day, and is frequently con- 
tinued for months, until they cease to operate, or pro- 
duce consequences which prohibit their administration. 

Although there is an innumerable variety of remedies 
for disease, they are all divided into two general classes, 
astringents and laxatives. The former operate by at- 
traction, and produce contraction, and the latter by re- 
pulsion, and produce relaxation. The action of these 
are general, and no matter on what organ or circle they 
act or operate, this is their action. One increases 
the centripetal force, the other the centrifugal. In Their 
effect, the former upon the bowels, produce constipa- 
tion; the latter operate as cathartics or laxatives. 
From the more particular effect of some remedies upon 
particular circles and organs, they are said to have more 
or less a specific effect upon them, hence they are call- 
ed sialigogues, stomachichs, laxatives, diuretics, dia- 
phoretics and emenagogues. There is another class call- 
ed narcotics and their opposites, which are resolvable 
into the same as astringents and laxatives, or those that 
produce sleep and those that produce wakefulness, such 
as opium, stramonium, &c, of the first class, and guac 
and calomel, in small doses, of the last. This class op- 
erates more particularly upon the brain and nerves, and 
are generally called nervines. Why does a particular 
medicine, when taken as above, operate in this specific 
manner on a particular organ? We have never heard 
it explained, or believe it can be, except on our theory. 
It will be recollected (chap, vi.) when on the elements 
of food and organs, we showed that all the organs or 
circles of the body were of different textures: that the 
Jiver, for instance, was different from the kidneys; the 
skin different from both; in a word, that although they 
were composed of the same elements, carbon, hydro- 
gen, oxygen and nitrogen, they were in different pro- 



MAGNETISM. 231 

portions in each, and that not only their texture, but 
their form also varied throughout. We also showed 
that being in this different condition, in the round of 
the circulation, they attracted from the blood a mate- 
rial for their use, and imparted something for the gene- 
ral support of the whole system. Now these various 
remedies are also, although composed of the same ele- 
mentary particles or principles, different in the quanti- 
ties or proportions to each other in the compound, and 
are thus made, in that particular state of magnetism, to 
favor their immediate attraction to these organs, and 
when so attracted, produce by their peculiar action of 
cither attraction or repulsion, the particular partial spe- 
cific action, known from the exhibition of them. That 
a little difference in the proportion of these elements to 
each other in compounds, make a compound in nature 
perfectly antagonized, we do know, and therefore infer 
the same of the rest. Oxygen and hydrogen will unite 
in one proportion and form the most intense flame, that 
nothing can resist; in another proportion, they will unite 
and form that compound called water, which will quench 
fire or flame; and are also constantly changing from 
one compound to that of another. 

"Water restrained, {rivea 7 >irth 

To grass and plants, a;ul thickens into earth; 
Diffused, it rises in a higher sphere, 
Dilates its drop?, and softens into air; 
1 These finer parts of air again aspire, 

Move into warmth; and brighten into fire: 

That fire, once more, by denser air o'crcom'^. 

And downward force.i, in earth's capacious womb, 

Alters its particle?, is fire no more, 

But lies mctalie dust, or ponderous ore." — Prior. 

It is also well known that sugar and vinegar are com- 
posed of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon, and only vary 
in their relative proportions to each other in the com- 
pounds, as well as these substances called alcohol and 
carbonic acid. Now, although a medicine acts agree a- 
21 



232 



BAGG ON 



r 



ble to the characteristics of the general class in a par- 
ticular organ, (that is, astringents or laxatives) they 
carry these throughout the whole system, for a diapho- 
retic is as much a laxative to the perspiratory vessels 
as a cathartic is to the bowels, or a diuretic to the kid- 
neys, or calomel in small doses to the glands. The truth 
is, as will be seen on reference to the classification of 
our old as well as present writers, that all remedies, 
either general or local, are by them divided, and prop- 
erly so too, into these classes, which are but other 
terms for increasing or diminishing the centripetal or 
centrifugal forces, from the natural action or healthy 
state of the system. 

Physicians at the present day are too apt to look for 
causes which they can never discover, and imagine them 
to be material, to be from bile, mucus, or something 
that is tangible, cognizable to the mind through the 
senses. These are not the true cause of disease. It is 
owing to the spirit of life, the nervous fluid, the mag- 
netic fluids, that at all times are the cause of disease. 
The machine is not the cause of life, and therefore can 
not be the cause of disease; it is the spirit animating 
that machine. The material body stands the same re- 
lation to the action and motion in the system, that con- 
stitutes life, that the zinc and copper plates do to the 
magnetic or galvanic fluids that produce the phenomena 
of motion upon rotary magnetic machines. We have 
already shown in what consisted life and disease, and 
need not again repeat it minutely. Can a material sub- 
stance produce motion of and from itself? Never! The 
magnetic fluids are at all times, and ever have been, 
and will continue through all coming time, in motion. 
Lastly, we will observe the manner that medicines are 
given, or taken by families, with and without the advice 
of physicians now-a-days, might be illustrated by re- 
lating the general observations of a good old plow-going 
physician, who at all times, when in consultation at the 



MAGNETISM. 233 

bed side, after an examination of the patient, made use 
of this expression. Ask him. under the circumstances-, 
what was best to do for him, he would invariably reply, 
" Wall, I don't hardly know; I know of so many good 
things, I don't know which to give him fu&L" So w T ith 
families and physicians, they know of so many good 
remedies, they had as live give or take one as another. 
Instead of discriminating and discovering which force 
predominates, and producing an equilibrium, they hap- 
hazaidiy give or take what they have compounded and 
made up. trusting to good luck for the result. 

Our young physicians read the European authors, 
who describe the symptoms of such and such diseases 
to be so and so, and to have, in their artificial division, such 
a name, and to that name they have, as almost specifics, 
remedies attached. Thus, all they have to do is to find 
out the name of a disease, and prescribe to that, instead 
of the disease itself, or the particular state or condition 
of the system. Thousands have gone to their untime- 
ly graves from this cause alone. Disease is always 
changing; what will help to day will hurt to fnorrow, 
and even what is beneficial in the morning is pernicious 
in the evening. Who can believe, after a moment's 
reflection, that authors can prescribe through a prescrip- 
tion book, two thousand miles across the Atlantic, for 
disease, where climate, food and habits are so different 
from ours, much less for its different stages'? They can 
not do it, and yet they are followed with as much pre- 
cision in the treatment of disease, as their works on 
grammar and arithmetic are followed in college as text 
books on those branches of science. There is a story 
told of an individual of this class of practitioners, of 
Troy, New York, which is so applicable to the w^hole 
class and to the subject, that we can not forbear to give 
it to the reader. 

In the early settlement of that city, while it was yet 
a small village, a certain shrewd, but ignorant person. 



234 BAGG ON 

by chance commenced to give medicine, and by degrees 
he became considerable wealthy from its practice. The 
village was now just commenced, and at that day, phy- 
sicians were more like " angels visits" than at present, 
and having no competition, he soon gained a competency, 
and as there was no druggist at the village, he was 
obliged to go to Albany for his supply of medicine, 
where he paid promptly. After getting the simple 
medicines, such as pikery, salts, senna, rhubarb, &c, 
put up, knowing him to be good pay, and the druggist 
anxious to sell him as much as possible, would ask him 
if he did not give such and such medicines, saying that 
the most eminent physicians of that city gave them with 
great success. To hide his ignorance, (as he could hard- 
ly read or write) he would reply that he gave them, 
and purchase them; but when he arrived at home, 
would cram them indiscriminately into a large three 
gallon jug, filled with whiskey, which he kept constant- 
ly sitting in the corner for that purpose. Soon he would 
be called to patients laboring under diseases that he was 
as ignoTrant of as he was of the nature and use of the 
remedies. When this happened, he would go to the 
Big Jug, and prescribe the tincture of this heterogeneous 
compound. Sometimes they would get well; but often- 
er were suddenly sent to "Davy Jones's" by this death- 
seed, sown, as it were, broadcast upon the spirit of life. 
When it was fatal, he would, with great gravity and 
veneration, lay it to an organic affection of the heart, 
"liver complaint," consumption, or the "orful" dispen- 
sations of Providence. If they chanced to get well, he 
would claim them as living monuments of his consum- 
mate skill and knowledge. Thus he went on from year 
to year, rode a good horse, was the first man at wed- 
dings, and the last one at funerals; said at all times 
"yes marm," to the ladies; not only praised up, but 
kissed the children; charged nothing for doctoring the 
purses but their eternal puffing in return, and no matter 



MAGNETISM. 335 

where he went on Sundays, invariably left upon his 
slate that he had gone to church. In this manner and 
by this course his business increased, and he became one 
of the most wealthy inhabitants of that' comparatively 
new city. Are there any big jug practitioners at the 
present day? Let the reader judge. 

There is one fact that, on reflection, all will acknowl- 
edge, without perhaps being able to account for the 
cause, and that is, that that physician who loses the 
most patients, not only gets the most business, but is the 
best paid. Whence comes it? What is the cause? Is 
it owing to a want of discrimination by the people? the 
complicated nature of disease and remedies? sympathy 
with the physician; believing him honest, though igno- 
rant? or because "dead men tell no tales?" Now we 
lay it down as a fact, demonstrable, and we think some- 
what demonstrated, from what has been said, that not 
only food, but all remedies, act upon the system in a 
tworfofd manner, that the "magnetic fluids in food and 
remedies go to and support the sum of these fluids m 
the system, which constitutes its life, while the material 
part is attracted to the material part of the system, for 
its support and maintenance. The one then, supports 
life, and the other supports the machine on which that 
life or animation acts and controls. In this view, then, 
of the subject, they all operate by imparting the mag- 
netic fluids to the system. This being established, it 
follows that disease, being a unit, or being the equilib- 
rium line between antagonizing forces, in antagonizing 
organs, if we can produce this equilibrium without ox- 
ydizing or injuring the galvanic battery by these pow- 
erful remedies, it is a desideratum to be wished. In the 
next chapter we shall endeavor to show, by facts unim- 
peached "and unimpeachable, that we can produce this 
effect much quicker, with no pain or prostration, but 
that the patient will become stronger at every attempt, 
until, the equilibrium is perfect, or he is restored to 
21* 




X 

t ■ 



236 BAGG ON 

health. In the mean time, we will simply observe that 
all matter in the natural world is composed of two parts, 
spirit and matter, or the magnetic fluids and the mate- 
rial substances; and that consequently, a common pill 
of any kind, or any other substance, has a little or suf- 
ficient quantity for its form and action, of this spirit of 
life, as the human system, has in proportion to its quan- 
tity and kingdom to which it belongs. Were it not for 
this spirit, it would have no form, but be a shapeless mass. 
The only difference between the human systeiriand ma- 
terial' substances is the arrangement of their ultimate 
atoms, and one being animal and the other vegetable or 
mineral, and the former so constituted, constructed and 
endowed as to be the artificer of its own actions, by 
the superaddition of a will or power, and capacity to 
put itseli into action. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CURE OF DISEASE BY MAGNETISM. EXALTATION OF 
NATURAL REMEDIES. EFFECT OF THE WILL. 

We have shown that the effect of all natural reme- 
dies in the cure of disease was owing to their imparting 
to the system the magnetic fiuids, and so operating as 
to produce an equilibrium in the magnetic forces. We 
will now show that this material virtue of these reme- 
dies can be increased or exalted by the power of the 
will, to say nothing at this time of attenuation and mi- 
nute ^division, producing the same effect. We have 
magnetized, within the last two years, over two thou- 
sand persons, and there has been scarcely a single ex- 
ception, when we have put them to sleep, but what we 
have magnetized some metalic keep-sake for them to 
go to sleep on, or by, in our absence, such as a piece 
of gold, or a quarter of a dollar. The manner in which 






MAGNETISM. 28? 

this is done is to make passes and look at the piece, in 
the same manner that we do a subject, with a concen- 
trated will, and at last breathe upon it, willing that it 
shall put the possessor to sleep for the length- of time 
that he wills so to do. In ninety-nine times out of one 
hundred it will succeed. They sit down looking stead- 
ily at it, saying mentally to themselves, "I will myself 
to go to sleep for three minutes," or hours, or days, as 
the case may be, and it never has failed with me more 
than once or twice, but what they would go to sleep 
for the length of time desired, and wake up to a second. 
I have had this tested when and where I have been lec- 
turing, by dozens, holding different watches, and they 
would not only go to sleep, but awake when the min- 
utes or length of time had expired that I had given them 
to sleep on. Indeed, this is so common, and so well 
understood where they are in the habit of seeing pa- 
tients go to sleep, that none deny it. - It has passed long 
since into a notorious fact, and acknowledged by all 
w 7 ho are not so blinded by prejudice that they are de- 
termined not to believe it, even if they see it with their 
own eyes, which some are so hardened as to declare. 
This being conceded, on which there is or can be no 
question, does it not look reasonable that we can increase 
the natural medicinal virtues of a known remedy, as 
well as make a new remedy from a comparative inert 
substance, by the same means and process. We say, 
to be well understood upon this particular point of the 
subject, if we can, by the power of our will, put a pa- 
tient to sleep by manipulations, which is nothing but 
a secondary effort from our will, or a means to convey 
the magnetic fluids to a certain point; if after having 
accomplished this, we can, by the same process, operate 
upon a metalic substance so as to put a subject to sleep 
from their own will, for a definite period of time, is it 
not likely that we can increase a well known remedy 
in effect upon the system, by the same process? Now 



238 



BAGG ON 



what is this sleep; what does it consist in 7 It is a per- 
fect catalepse or palsy of every external organ of sense 
or motion, from the predominacy of the centripetal 
force of attraction in the subject over repulsion, with a 
corresponding internal exaltation, and nothing else. — 
Now, for instance, we wish to cure a patient who has 
a disease from too much lethargy or sleepiness, can we 
not take water, milk, wine, or almost any vehicle, and 
by our will, by the same means, produce a contrary ef- 
fect, and produce wakefulness, by infusing into it mag- 
netism in a state of repulsion, or that kind, rather, that"* 
will produce that effect when swallowed'? Would it 
require a larger manifestation of credulity to believe 
one than the other — to believe that we could render 
dead or insensible, as it were, all the senses of the hu- 
man body, by looking at a metalic magnetized substance, 
than that we could produce the opposite effect, and cure 
a palsy of one or all these organs of sense, or any oth- 
er organ, by taking internally a magnetized substance? 
Wine increases directly the force, frequency and fulness 
of the pulse. By putting our index fingers upon the 
wrist of each arm, we can increase the pulse of any 
one (some more than others) from ten to fifteen beats 
in a minute, in as many minutes, as well as in fullness 
and force. Would it require any greater stretch of 
credulity to believe that we could throw this same fluid 
into a glass of water, and will it to produce the same 
effect, in that manner, after being swallowed in imita- 
tion of -the wine, than to raise them by directly throw- 
ing the magnetic fluids through the skin and coats of 
the artery, into the blood, and producing the frequency, 
force and fullness in that manner. 

We have shown that every substance in nature, that 
tends towards the centre of the earth, or recedes from it, 
is in a naturally magnetized state, and that all substances 
have a capacity to do one or the other. Every sub- 
stance, then, is naturally magnetized. Cannot these bo 



2VJAGNETIS3I. 239 

increased or exalted, by imparting or infusing more into 
them of the magnetic Hinds'? Iron, in a natural state, 
if left free to move, will be attracted to the earth with 
gieat force, and so will steel, but if Ave exalt it by infu- 
sing a greater quantity of magnetic fluids into it, it be- 
comes so sensible, that it will not only attract other iron 
to itself, but will become more sensible to the currents 
of light from the sun, and turn north and south. The 
human system has certain natural capacities and abili- \ 
ties, but if we magnetize it, these are all universally ex- ( ^ 
alted. Then, we repeat again, is it not reasonable to 
believe that the natural virtues of a remedy or medi- 
cine, may *be increased, after all that has been show 7 n. 
as above. We have also shown, that in all the affairs 
of human life, in the formation of domestic circles, so- 
cieties, churches, and parties, that the influence that one 
person has over another, by pursuasion, by argument 
and eloquence, is produced by magnetism, and w r as what 
we termed (cap. ix.) the minimum degree, or what we 
may here, in illustration, term the natural magnetism of 
the system; but by infusing more, giving it an increased 
quantity, w T e have them perfectly under our control, 
andean attract them, like the magnet, to perform their 
natural capacity more perfectly. Can w^e not, then, 
sec in every light in which this subject is viewed, that 
medicine can be exalted in their natural medicinal vir- 
tues and action, to a greater or less extent? 

We have already shown, (chap, ix.) that in a natur- 
al state, such is the effect of one individual over another, 
that they are controlled or led to take a certain course 
of conduct, or through spite or prejudice, take an op- 
posite course. This is produced by attraction on the one 
hand, and repulsion on the other, or by what is called 
sympathy and imitation, or by prejudice, which are but 
other terms to express the same results. Not only this, 
we have shown in addition, that the natural magnetism, 
or the natural capacities, may be so exalted, that time, 



240 BAGG ON 

space, distance and magnitude, as well as rnedica, are 
annihilated, and that the volitions and sensations are en- 
tirely catalepsed or palsied, that they are dead or dor- 
mant. This seems to be produced by such a change 
upon the system, that all the five or six senses are con- 
centrated in one, and that when so done, the mind is ex- 
alted in every faculty. At any rate, when the external 
senses are thus closed to the external world, the mind 
of the clairvoyant becomes exalted greatly above the 
magnetizer, and will look far beyond what the concen- 
trated mind of a thousand persons, in a natural state, 
could do, if associated together for a similar purpose. — 
Thus we see that iron or steel, from the mineral king- 
dom, as well as even the intellect and corporeal system 
of man, are exalted by the will of one person over an- 
other, by the influence of this principle. But farther; 
we so operate on the body, that we can, by a look, 
touch, and, in some cases, without either, cataleps or 
make rigid, not only every voluntary, but some invol- 
untary muscles of the system; can attract a patient, by 
our will, to not only follow us out of the room, and about 
out doors, but so operate upon the mind, as to call sin- 
gly into action, every organ or manifestation, can pro- 
duce desire or aversion, pleasure or pain, grief or joy, 
quiescence or motion, make him hot or cold, perspire, or 
the reverse, operate upon his bowels or not; can cause 
him to sing, to talk, to laugh, to cry, to be serious and 
pray, or the reverse and swear; to steal all he can lay 
his hands on, and give it all away the next moment; in 
short, we can at will, make him do and perform all that 
mortals are capable of doing in a natural state, and du- 
ring which he will perform what is infinitely above mor- 
tality to perform, as we have seen in clairvoyance. Thus 
we break up the equilibrium of the mind, palsy the 
body, anylize the intellect, and recomposeit by restoring 
the equilibrium which it depends for sanity, health, 
or rationality, we excite and compose the passions at 



MAGNETISM. 241 

will, singly or in connection; make him delirious or ra- 
tional, operate upon the reason and judgment, and make 
him hungry or loath food. All these we hare done and 
performed before assembled thousands, and for the re- 
flecting few in private circles, and yet the masses, from 
habit and education, together with the perversions, 
sneers, sarcasms, and falsehoods of the interested, who 
have trod, and are still like to do so, in the foot-steps of 
their illustrious predecessors in the practice of giving a 
drastic cathartic to a patient the first dose, let the symp- 
s bo what they may, and follow that with either the 
pounded ice or the Tiiompsonian cayenne; they cannot 
be made to believe that we can in the same manner, 
and by the same means, produce that equilibrium in the 
physical system, by this influence, on which good health 
depends. Will any one, at this day, after what they 
have seen, have the audacity or hardihood to denv but 
what we can do all we have here enumerated ? " We 
trust not. If there is, we will simply say. that he is so 
palpably led by interest, or blinded by prejudice, that 
such a person is rot worth convincing. Amateurs, far- 
mers and others, are at this time, not only all over the 
United States, but in Europe, performing them on one 
another, without knowing the reason, or being able to 
give the rationale, whys or wherefores, but yet thev 
know them to be facts. If, then, we can perform what 
we have above ited, With a thousand others on 

a par with them, with others superior, cannot we pro- 
duce with the will an equilibrium sufficient to cure 
disease ? 

These operations, although performed by the spirit of 
life, the rnagneti . by the will of one person over 

or upon the spirit of life of another, are what arc vet 
called physical ejects. When we cataleps an arm/for 
instance, which consists in making it rigid, and putting 
it upon its utmost stretch, the minute particles compo- 
sing the muscles, are forced "as~ far from each othm' a« 



242 BAGG ON 



# 



possible, to such aa extent that the whole muscles, mem- 
branes and skin, are put upon the most extreme stretch; 
this constitutes repulsion, and is produced by moving 

":om the brain to the ex- - 



our eye or fingers, or both, fro 

tremity. When we restore it, we take the opposite di- 
rection with our eye and fingers, and move them from 
the extremities towards the brain, thus showing, besides 
our centripetal and centrifugal forces in this process 
alone, that we produce an extreme with our will, to 
wit: a state analogous to disease, (palsey,) and restore 
it again, by the same influence, to the equilibrium where 
we found it. Here we can also see, without any fear 
of contradiction, that it is not a physical cause that pro- 
sy, duces disease, but a particular arrangement of the ulti- 
mate atoms composing the muscles, from the operation 
of the magnetic fluids. Again, we make the patient hot 
or cold at will; what is a fever but the alternations be- 
tween the extremes of first centripetal and then centri- 
fugal forces 1 What produces health or stops these al- 
ternations, but an equilibrium between these forces] — 
Is not perspiration, and a secretion, and an excretion 
from the kidneys, the sequel or effect of this equilibrium 1 
Have we not show r n, that we can readily produce this 
effect by the will ? Indeed, it is the most easy result to 
accomplish, of any other process or phenomena. We 
make the patient laugh or weep, with our will — is not 
this a physical effect? Who believes that it takes a 
physical cause, or that it ever produces mirth. On the 
contrary, is not mirth the result of the ebullition of what 
is commonly called the animal spirits, as well as crying 
and grief the depression of them. Now, the index of 
physicians, as taught in the schools, to discover the par- 
ticular state of the patient, whether he wants bleeding 
or not, or tonics, or weakening, by cathartics and other 
debilitating remedies, is the pulse. Now, we aver that 
this is a very poor guide, and not to be depended upon; 
and the reason is simply this, that the moment we place 



MAGNETISM. 243 

our fingers upon it, that moment, by the stimulus of the 
magnetic fluids thrown through the coats of the skin 
and artery, produce an increase, fullness, tension and 
frequency. So much are they, by this simple opera- 
tion, changed, that they will make a sufficient difference 
to indicate bleeding, and thousands have been injured 
by this operation, from this cause alone, and been debili- 
tated when they required tonics. This fact was ob- 
served by Dr. Rush, without knowing the cause, as may 
be recollected, by his teaching his pupils to examine the 
pulse of their patients at least twice, when they first 
entered the sick room, and when they retired. He at- 
tributed it to the excitement or the anxiety of the pa- 
tient about his condition, and the judgment formed from 
the doctor's looks, as to the final termination of his case; 
but, although this might have some effect, the other is 
the main cause. After having practiced medicine twen- 
ty-five years, and taking the precautions recommended 
by Dr. R., while attending a little girl eight years old, 
in a collapsed state of scarlatina, by accident I took hold 
of both wrists at the same time, and found that the pulse, 
from being weak, and tremulous, came up full, strong, 
and less frequent, and she, from being delirious, restless 
and uneasy, fell into a gentle Isleep, which she had not 
been blest with since she had been attacked. I took the 
hint, and continued to keep hold of the pulse for a little 
longer, and then changed to the thumbs, after the com- 
mon manner of magnetizing, and she went into a mag- 
netic sleep, which continued two hours, and awaked 
calm, collected, and every symptom better. In the eve- 
ning I took hold of the pulse in the same manner, and 
with the same effect, and continued to magnetize her 
for a few days, until she recovered, since which time 
we invariably operate first upon the blood, through the 
medium of the arteries; w T e can, on any one who has 
confidence, a right temperament and concentration, raise 
the pulse or depress them, at will. Now, if we can con- 
22 



244 BAGG ON 

trol the pulse by the will, raise or depress them from 
fifteen to Wenty beats in as many minutes, does it not 
speak volumes towards not only the curing by that sim- 
ple means alone, but towards the general effects of mag- 
netism upon disease, from the will of one person over 
the will of another? These are some of the physical 
effects produced upon the body by the will of one per- 
son upon another, through the influence of the magne- 
tic fluids, as well as some of the phenomena of mind 
from the same cause and influence. That diseases can 
be cured without debilitating the patient, but, on the con- 
trary, leaving him in a better condition than before he 
was taken with it, as well as those of the mind also, we 
do know from experience. This is not confined to 
chronic or nervous diseases, or that particular one call- 
ed rheumatism, but is general, as well as local. We 
have cured fevers, during the last year, in thirty min- 
utes, without a medicine, external or internal, that would 
have resisted the common treatment for days, to say the 
least. When we are called to a patient laboring under 
a fever now-a-days, when they have confidence, we inva- 
riably set down and never leave the patient until he is 
cured, if it takes me two hours; but to others, from the 
prejudice of the people, f am obliged to give cathartics, 
and do what they call, " cleanse the stomach and bow- 
els," which is rarely necessary, and especially to the 
extent practiced, and then gradually and by degrees, 
advance with the magnetic remedy of manipulations, 
&c. The following, among the various cases that have 
come under my observation, are some that have been 
cured through the influence of the will alone, or by the 
exaltation of remedies through the influence of the will, 
or both combined with natural remedies, 




MAGNETISM. 245 

CHAPTER XIV. 

CASES CURED BY THE WILL, DIRECT AND INDIRECT. 

OTHERS HELPED, AND NATURAL REMEDIES 
ASSOCIATED WITH THEM. 

From what has been seen, is it not the irresistible 
conclusion of the mind, that the human system, by the 
influence of the will alone, is changed from one extreme 
action, to that of another, and from these brought to a 
most perfect state of equilibrium ? and that not only the 
natural virtues of medicine are increased and exalted, 
but that any inert substance may be so magnetized, or 
changed by the influence of the will by this principle, 
and taken internally or applied externally, that it will 
produce the same effect. The practice in this city, (and 
has been for the last year,) is so common, for one to 
cure another's pains and aches in this manner, such as 
head aches, pains in the side, rheumatism, &c. that mere 
novices are called upon, and cure daily, from this cause 
alone. Indeed, it is so general and common, that it has 
ceased to produce excitement, having long since lost its 
novelty by repetition. But let facts speak for them- 
selves. 

May 10. Called to Mrs. M , who was confined 

five days since; has local discharge suppressed, high 
fever, pains all over throughout the system, pulse quick 
and tense, furred tongue, a dry, tickling, harrassing 
cough, with extreme tenderness across the abdomen. — 
Prescribed twenty grains calomel, followed with epicac 
in nauseating doses. 

May 11. Calomel has operated well, but patient has 
pains in the head, neck, back and eye balls; soreness 
across the abdomen a little abated; fever continues, but 
somewhat moderated; lochia still suppressed. Contin- 
ue epicac, combined with small doses of calomel. 

May 12. Lochia yet suppressed, fever continues, 
tongue remains furred, with the pains in the head, 



246 BAGG ON 

neck and back. Commence and magnetize the whole 
system; in twenty minutes closed her eyes so that she 
could not open them, and then drew or took of the in- 
fluence, by long passes, made the whole length of the 
system beyond the extremities. While under the influ- 
ence, the pulse became fuller, slower, and less tense, a 
slight universal perspiration came on, and she was en- 
tirely relieved from all pain; the tickling cough was re- 
lieved, but still continued. I then magnetized some wa- 
ter to cure her cough, act as an anodyne, and operate 
as an emenagogue, and cathartic next morning, and 
gave her. While I was magnetizing the water, she 
went into sleep, precisely as though I had been making 
passes at herself, although I was, perhaps, fifteen feet 
from her, where she could not see me or my manipu- 
lations. 

May 13. Medicine, (that is, water, having prescribed 
nothing else,) has operated precisely as desired. She 
has rested well all night; has had a passage from the 
bowels, and the lochia has made its appearance; the bad 
symptoms have all left her, and she is perfectly com- 
fortable and easy, and much stronger than yesterday; 
directed her to take nothing but light nourishing food, 
and left her. 

May 16. Again called; patient has relapsed, and all 
the former symptoms returned, with suppressed lochia* 
Magnetize her in the same manner, and prescribe mag- 
netized water as before, with no other medicine. 

May 17. Find the magnetizing and magnetized wa- 
ter has had the same effect as on the twelfth, even to 
bring oil the Jochial discharge; the patient is again hap- 
py and easy, except a little remains of the tickling cough; 
prescribed magnetized water for that, and to keep the 
bowels open. 

May 18. Called and found her comfortable, and con- 
valescing, and discontinued my visits and attendance. 

June 1, Called to see a child of Mr. P's; found it in 



MAGNETISM. 247 

a most perfect comatose o* cataleptic state. It lies in- 
sensible, with the head and extremities, from spasms 
yesterday, drawn back so as to touch the bead with 
only these, forming a kind of semi-circle, with stomach 
and bowels projecting in a very unusual manner; is 
fourteen months old, and has been in this condition over 
twenty-four hours, preceding which, had had spasms, 
more or less, for twenty-four hours. Although I had 
never magnetized but two patients previous to this, find- 
ing that she was so insensible that she could not swal- 
low, I immediately commenced to magnetize, and in 
about thirty minutes succeeded in affecting her, as near 
as I could judge by the pulse, breathing, and relaxation 
of the permanent contraction of the muscles that had 
thrown her into this peculiar condition. The pulse be- 
came more full, slow and firm, the somewhat stertous 
breathing changed to unimpeded and full respirations, 
and the muscles gave way, so that she lay natural upon 
her back; I then left her with no prescription, not even 
to food, and told the parents to give her nothing. 

Afternoon, called again; learned that she had remain^ 
ed quiet and calm for two hours, but is now restless, 
and writhing, and moaning, and evidently delirious. — 
Go on, as before, and succeed in a less time, in again 
putting her into a magnetic sleep, and she became calm, 
and the symptoms were all changed as before. Thus 
did I go on, twice a day, and sometimes three times, 
for a week, with my will and manipulations, when the 
little patient broke out aTl over with the scarlet fever 
rash, which showed the disease, or symptoms, to have 
been caused by a suppressed scarlet fever eruption; I 
then continued for a day or two longer, and she recover- 
ed and got well. While magnetizing her and making 
manipulations from head to the extremities, I found that 
on stopping at the stomach a moment, and then moving 
in the direction of the arch of the calon, that there was 
an evident motion or movement created at each time, 
22* 



248 BAGG ON 

in the bowels, and taking the hint, I persevered, and 
moved her bowels in this manner, from day to day, and 
never gave her a particle of medicine during the whole 
time, but one dose of castor oil. At this time I was ig- 
norant of the fact, that water and other substances could 
be magnetized, and might be given so as xo assist a pa- 
tient in a diseased state. She had been sick so long 
when I was called, that it was impossible to find out the 
cause, and it was only after the rash made its appear- 
ance that the complant was understood. 

July 25. Called on C. D. Has a most violent and se- 
vere attack of the scarlet fever. Is eight years old. — 
The excitement high, throat ulcerated, submaxilliry 
glands much swollen, pulse one hundred and ten per 
minute, thirst insatiable, tongue covered with a whitish 
yellow fur, laborious respiration, skin as red as a " boiled 
lobster;" has been effected twenty-four hours; family 
increased the bad symptoms by an attempt to sweat her, 
and has taken a portion of salts, which has operated and 
given no relief. I immediately gave her a large dose 
of calomel, and directed her to be constantly washed in 
water, with the cold just taken off, until it should bring 
down the heat to the natural standard. 

Evening. Calomel operated well; ablutions have been 
employed according to directions, yet the patient is 
worse; pulse quick, weak and tremulous; breathing ir- 
regular; skin dry and hot; tongue dark and dry, and she 
is restless and delirious. Continue ablutions; direct the 
throat to be washed with salt and vinegar, and to gar- 
gle with the same, and to give wine whey if there should 
be a flagging of the pulse and coldness of the extremi- 
ties, but not to give any without absolutely demanded. 

26. Patient w r orse; heat continues; pulse weak, quick 
and irregular, as well as respiration; skin red and hot; 
tongue clean but red, smooth and shining; submaxilliry 
glands and throat so swollen that nothing can be got in- 
to the stomach, with restlessness; delirium and con- 






MAGNETISM. 249 

stantly turning in bed. pawing the air with the hands 
and moaning. In this situation, while examining the 
pulse critically, I discovered, while holding them, (one 
hold of one wrist and the other the other) that they be- 
came more full and slow, and that she seemed more 
calm. I then took hold of the thumbs, after the com- 
mon manner of magnetizing, and held them a few min- 
utes, and the effect was increased. I then stated to the 
parents that their child was very sick, that under the 
common treatment I was afraid I should lose her, but if 
they were willing, I would attempt to magnetize her, 
believing, from what I had seen, it would help her. 
They consented, and I proceeded to make long passes 
from the head to the extremities for over an hour, du- 
ring which she sunk into a calm refreshing sleep, and 
the respiration became natural, and the pulse fuller and 
slower. The heat, which could not be counteracted by 
cold water, gave way, and with it the scarlet hue in a 
great measure subsided. I continued this operation 
twice a day for three days, and afterwards once a day 
for two days longer, with certain transverse passes up- 
on her throat and neck, which the bystanders could see 
lessen the tumor in the first operation very materially, 
and she gradually recovered. 

All the medicine she took after I first commenced 
magnetizing was one dose of castor oil. After she had 
obtained an appetite and got about the house, from over 
eating or some other cause, she relapsed, and congestive 
fever came on, but three times magnetizing broke it off, 
and she again became convelescent, and got well with- 
out a particle of any medicine except magnetized water 
for her bowels. 

This case was as severe a one as we generally find in 
this or any other country. It ran its course from in- 
flammatory action down into a collapsed state, with black 
tongue, in forty-eight hours. It was so severe that the 
fingers pealed all over, as well as the skin upon other 



X 



250 SAOO OK 

y 

parts of the body. I am very sure she would not have 
recovered by the ordinary treatment, having had con- 
siderable experience in scarletina the last twenty years* 
I learned from observation upon this case, which I have 
since confirmed upon others, as well the former case 
spoken of in this chapter, the important fact, that I can 
raise or depress the pulse at will with the will, to such 
an extent as to make or cure disease* Every person 
can be more or less affected, but the maximum degree 
of magnetizing is to put the patient to sleep, to perfect- 
ly cataleps or palsy every organ of sense of the whole 
body, like drinking ardent spirits, a person can take two 
or three glasses a day, and an ordinary observer would 
not detect it, but let him increase it in degree or strength, 
to eight or ten glasses, and he becomes drunk and falls 
down catalepsed or insensible. The former three glass- 
es per day may be called the minimum degree of drink- 
ing and the latter the maximum. 

Aug. 1st. Called to a child of Mr. F., ten years old, 
has a well marked scarlet fever, of the middle degree, 
(Anginosa); is hot, red and feverish; sore throat and 
all the characteristics of that disease. Without giving 
him a particle of medicine, I proceeded and put him in- 
to a deep magnetic sleep, and made long passes the 
whole length of the system, to equalize action, and trans- 
verse ones across the throat to cure that; these I con- 
tinued for thirty minutes, and directed his parents to let 
him remain all night without waking him, and until I 
came in the morning. 

Aug. 2. Called and found him awake and about the 
house. I directed his diet to be light, said that he might 
take soft toast and roast potatoes, which I should not 
have dared to give him under common treatment, and 
put him into the magnetic state, and drew off the in- 
fluence with long passes, made beyond the extremi- 
ties. 






MAGNETISM. 251 

Aug. 3. Called again, and found my patient as well 
as ever, and his mother (an Irish woman) said she "did 
not believe he had had the scarlet fever." I asked her 
why she thought so. She said, "he had got well so 
quick, the neighbors said he had'nt had it." What, then, 
did you call me for? said I. "Why, he was sick, to be 
sure and he was, but the neighbors said it could'nt be 
the scarlet fever." Was he not very hot, and did he 
not want to drink all before him? " Yas." Was he not 
as red as red morocco] "Yas." Did he not constant- 
ly call Tor drink] " Yas." What then makes you think 
he has not had the scarlet fever! "Why, the people 
said if he'd had the scarlet fever it would have lasted 
two weeks, or such a business, and may-be died, too." 
So you believe your neighbors, who never saw him, in- 
stead of me or your own senses] "I don't know." 
Knowing from the first that I should get no pay, and 
finding now I should get no credit, my combativeness 
came so suddenly up that I began to soliloquize by think- 
ing aloud in the following strain: O ignorance! blest 
power! whose wide extended field diffuses like the ra- 
dient source of night ! God pity the rich and intelligent. 
The ignorant are happy and the poor can beg. They 
who know nothing fear nothing, and will learn nothing! 
when she interrupted me, and said, "she wished I would 
put her to sleep, and pul! her teeth, they ached so." 
Are you sure they ache] "To be sure and I am, whin 
they ached all the long night so that I could take no 
pace at all at all a-most." No, said I, you are mistaken; 
they don't^ache at all; the people, the neighbors, say they 
don't ache, and do you think you know as well about it 
as they do] you arc mistaken, they don't ache at all, 
and I opened the door and left her, and have not seen 
her since. 

Aug. 4. Called to C. A. Has lain for two hours in a 
comatose insensible state; can not speak or open his eyes; 
his pulse irregular. Now he groans and raises his hand 



252 BAGG ON 

to his stomach; jaws are closed and locked; teeth clench- 
ed, and could therefore take nothing. I immediately 
put the index finger of each hand upon each wrist, and 
in a few minutes his pulse rose and became fuller and 
firmer. I then shifted to the thumbs, after the common 
manner, and magnetized him in twenty minutes thorough- 
ly, and the pulse became full and of natural frequency, 
breathing easy, the jaws became limber, and he could 
whisper. I asked him if he felt comfortable; he said 
he did". I then made a few 7 more long passes to equal- 
ize the action, and left him, telling them not to give him 
anything until I came in the morning. 

Next morning, at eight oVlock, I called and found 
him in the same magnetic state. I took off the influence, 
and he awoke and got up, ate breakfast, and has never 
been confined a moment since. 

Feb. 19. Called to T. G. Has a psoas abscess. Took 
along my clairvoyant, in company with five or six others, 
to her residence, two miles out of the city. Nothing 
was said to the clairvoyant about the case, only that we 
w r ere going to see a sick woman. I did not even know 
myself w T hat ailed her until he examined her, never 
having seen her before. As soon as w r e arrived, 1 put 
him to sleep, in another room from where the patient 
lay, and willed him to follow me, without saying a word, 
into her room, set him a chair by the side of the bed, 
and willed him to set down by and examine her, which 
he did by simply taking hold of her hands. He imme- 
diately described it, told what was the cause, what had 
been applied, and what it was then dressed with, how 
much it discharged and what the color and character 
of the matter was. I asked him if she could be cured; 
he said no, she could not be, that magnetizing w r ould re- 
lieve her some, but it would not, or any thing else cure 
her; that to ease her and keep her comfortable, it would 
be well to magnetize milk w r hey, and give her for drink, 
and wash the sore or ulcer with it, to keep it clean and 



MAGNETI3M. 253 

allay the soreness; but that when the leaves put out in 
the spring she would die. I then took off the influence 
and we left, without making any prescription. Her 
husband employed one of the most skillful surgeons of 
the city until the time foretold, when she died. 

June 24. Called to E. N. Has a troublesome cough, 
indicative of subacute inflamation; prescribed bleeding 
and cathartic of calomel. 

June 25. Patient relieved, but cough continues; gave 
nausating doses of antimony, and bled her again, and 
applied ointment tartrizecl antimony externally; finally 
all the usual remedies were given for three weeks, as 
well as a slight " touch" of the gums from calomel, but 
all to no purpose. I then commenced and magnetized 
her — put. her to sleep nights, and let her lay in that 
condition all night. As soon as she was put into that 
condition, she ceased to cough and remained quiet, but 
as soon as the influence was off, the cough would com- 
mence again. This I continued for two week, until the 
cough gradually subsided, but did not entirely cure it 
until she took a journey. 

Although magnetism did not put the perfect finish or 
cure upon this case, it gave her rest nights superior to 
all anodynes that were tried, which were Dovers pow- 
ders, parigoric, hyoscyamus, &c. and preserved her 
strength, so that she did not get down, so but w 7 hat she 
was able to be about the house during the latter part of 
the time without any tonic medicines. It is truly aston- 
ishing to see how its influence will restore the strength 
of a patient insensibly, as it w T ere, and almost instanta- 
neously, and we might almost add miraculously. 

June 28. Was called to P. N , a patient who has 

been laboring for three weeks under the most perfect 
hemiplegia or palsy of one side of the body. Has been 
attended by a good physician of this city for that time, 
but has only succeeded in keeping her where she is, 
without giving sensation or motion. Commence and 



254 BAGG ON 

attempt to magnetize her, but can not affect her suffi- 
cient to close her eyes, but after magnetizing her more 
or less for two weeks, she so far recovered as to be 
able to walk across the house, and out doors with a 
staff, and to raise up her arm almost as high as her 
head. Having had to be necessarily absent from the 
city for two months, she fell into the hands of others, 
and when I returned I learned she had been sent to the 
poor-house. I have never heard a word from her since. 
I presume she recovered, for as soon as you can give 
them a little motion, it is easy to get more, or in other 
words, it is hard to get the limb under the influence of 
the will, but when once they have got so they can even 
move it all, even to start it, they improve rapidly. 

Aug. 29. Called to a patient, A. F. who has had de- 
lirium tremens for six days, during which he has not 
slept a wink. I found his brain in a state of chaos, his 
mind was all in broken fragments, with a perfect repul- 
sion between his ideas and muscles of locomotion. It 
might be justly said to be in a state of decomposition: 
here was a paragraph of morality and there one of ob- 
scenity, here one on religion and there one disgusting 
in the extreme. Now his vision is on heaven, now on 
hell; now he is seeing angels and now devils; now he 
soars into the sublime, now descends into the ridiculous; 
now he is gay and humorous, now gloomy and peevish. 
In a word, there was a perfect disseveration of the as- 
sociation of the ideas forming mind and muscular mo- 
tion. In short, it was like a printer's form knocked in- 
to pi. 

I succeeded in getting hold of his hands, and by the 
assistance of a friend, attempted to get his attention, 
but it was vain. He was too much taken up with his 
conversation with invisible spirits to have any commu- 
nication with me, and although he was at the jail, he 
wanted "to go to jail," and kept constantly teazing to 
do so, to get rid of his "persecutors." I manipulated 



MAGNETISM. 255 

and made long passes from head to foot, for about thirty- 
minutes, or until I was somewhat exhausted. I thought 
he appeared to be less wild, but no symptoms of sleep. 
I directed them to put him into a room alone, and try- 
to get him to lay down, and I would soon return and 
try him again. They did so; in about an hour I return- 
ed, and to my agreeable surprise, found him in a deep 
sleep. I left him, and never have seen him since but 
once. He, however, slept all day, awaked rational and 
perfectly recovered, without the least medicine, and has 
never had a return of it since, which 1 learned on en- 
quiry of his father a few days since. 

March 10. Called on D. S. Has had a rheumatic 
affection of the right limb for three months; is unable 
to walk except with a cane to hobble about in doors; 
has been bled, took physic, followed by gum guac and 
tinct. colchicum, and applied the whole catalogue of 
external applications for that disease, to no purpose. 
Commence magnetizing, and in twenty minutes, by the 
clock, put him into a perfect state of somnambulism. 
I then made passes along the limb from head to ex- 
tremities, six or seven times, and awaked him, and to 
his astonishment, he could walk as well as ever, without 
the least feel of it. I saw him three months after, and 
it had not returned. 

Oct. 20. Called twenty miles into the country, to a 
patient who is laboring under spasmodic fits or parox- 
isms. Has had at this time three different physicians, 
one pronouncing the disease hysteria, and the other two 
epilepsey, but between them all, the disease continues. 
This day the fits commenced in the morning, and have 
been constant all day. I arrived at precisely ten o'clock 
in the evening; she had just come out of the fit as I 
entered the door, and lay in an insensible state. I found 
crowded about in the room, fifteen or twenty persons 
of all ages and sexes, expecting her every lit to be the 
last bv death. I had scarcely got off mv overcoat, 
23 



256 BAGG OPT 

when they cried out "doctor, she is going into another 
fit." I sprang to the bed, took her by the thumbs, and 
used the utmost concentration of my will to counteract 
that paroxysm, which I succeeded in moderating so 
much, that they said it was but a shadow of what they 
had been. In this manner I struggled with repeated 
lighter spasmodic action for at least an hour, when she 
sunk into a complete magnetic sleep, and lay perfectly 
quiet for two hours. She then began to be restless and 
moan, although she could not then speak so as to be 
understood. I again put her into sleep as before; she 
became again quiet, and continued so ,for about three 
hours, when she again became restless. I again put her 
to sleep, in which condition she remained until day-break. 
Having set up all night, at sunrise, I took a walk into 
the wood adjoining, and on returning at breakfast time, 
I found her dressed and setting up, apparently as w T ell 
as any of the ladies of the family, (three in number) 
and on expressing my surprise, she said she felt as well 
as ever. After breakfast, of which she partook with 
us, I again put her into a most perfect state of somnam- 
bulism. She became clairvoyant, and said it w T ould cure 
her. I then took off the influence, got on to my horse, 
and rode home. I have since repeatedly heard that she 
has remained well, and has never had a spasm since. 
I did not give her the least particle of medicine of any 
kind whatever. 

Nov. 20. C. S. called on me to day. Has a badly 
sprained wrist; is a laboring man, and has a certain job 
to perform, which he says this sprain of the wrist throws 
him out of. Knowing he had been an unbeliever, and 
had been lavish of his abuses upon myself and others 
who practiced magnetism, calling it all a humbug, &c. 
I objected to do any thing for him, as he did not believe 
in it, and therefore I could not help him. He replied 
that he did now believe in magnetism, and appeared 
serious. I told him if he would come three times I 



MAGNETISM. 357 

could cure it, and if he would not agree to come till I 
could cure it I would not touch it. He agreed to come 
until it should be cured, I then sat down and began to 
magnetize the wrist and the whole arm from the elbow 
down. After going on for about twenty minutes, I 
stopped, and he began to rub it with the other hand. 
I asked him what that was for; he said it was very 
numb. I told him then I should cure him, as I had pro- 
duced the effect I wished. I took off the influence and 
restored it by a few reverse passes, and he left with an 
appointment to call again at six o'clock in the evening. 
He did not come, however, and I saw him next morn- 
ing and lectured him for not coming as he agreed, for I 
was fearful he would not give me a fair opportunity^ 
and then go off and say I could not cure him, as a thou- 
sand others will and do, if they can but pervert facta 
and circumstances with regard to magnetism, but he 
said there was no use of coming, for what had been 
done had cured it entirely, and it was then as well as 
ever. 

Jan'y 1. Was called to T. B.; has had cold chills; is 
now hot and feverish, with cough and pains all over him, 
particularly in the head, neck and back; pulse full, tense 
and throbbing, and ninety in a minute; has taken pills, 
which have operated slightly. I took from his arm 
twenty ounces of blood, and gave him twenty grains of 
calomel, and directed his body to be sponged all over 
with water as cold as he could bear it, until the heat 
came down to its natural standard. 

2d. Find him better, but not free from pain. Gave 
him Dovers powders, and direct the ablution with tepid 
water to be continued. 

3d. Pulse increased since yesterday in force and fre- 
quency; has too much excitement; tongue coated with 
a greyish fur; head is confused, and complains of great 
debility, and has slept none through the night. I re- 
comended magnetizing. He disbelieves in it, the only 



258 BAGG ON 

reason why it was not tried first instead of bleeding, 
but now submits. I closed his eyes in a few minutes, 
made passes over his head, neck and back, and then took 
off the influence with long passes in the usual manner. 
After it was taken off, he said he was free from pain, 
was much stronger, got up and went about the room, 
which he was unable to do previous. In the evening I 
called again, and put him in the magnetic state, and in 
this manner for three days longer, when he was able to 
walk about the city, and soon went to work. 

Feb'y 25. Called to Mrs. P. Has had, for the last 
twenty-four hours, chills alternated with flashes, is now 
permanently and universally too hot; tongue furred; 
complains of sore throat and nausea at the stomach. 
Direct her to take an emetic of ipecac, which operated 
well, but nothing was ejected from the stomach but food 
and mucus, and this afternoon is "not much better, and 
has had no perspiration. Direct a saturated solution of 
salt in warm vinegar to be applied to the throat, and to 
gargle with alum w T ater. 

26th. Found her no better; throat worse. Put her 
into the magnetic sleep, equalized the excitement with 
long passes, applied transverse ones to the throat, and 
continue the gargle. 

27th. Again magnetize her as before, and make trans- 
verse passes across the throat. 

28th. Expresses herself well and cured, and able to 
go to work, and does so. 

Feb'y 28. Called to Mrs. W; found her with a fever; 
was taken last night with cold chills alternating with 
heat; now she is hot, face flushed, tongue furred, pain 
all over and throughout the system, but most severe in 
the back of the neck and back; has a sore throat; skin 
is dry and hot; breathing hurried and laborious; pulse, 
by the watch, ninety^four, and indicating to the feel 
bleeding. I commenced and magnetized her, and in ten 
minutes closed her eyes so that she could not open thenu 



A1AGNKTISM. %%Q 

I then made long passes to equalize, and brought her in- 
to a gentle perspiration. Every bad symptom now yan- 
ished, the pulse came down to seventy-four and soften- 
ed in force and increased in fullness, and she declared 
herself free from thirst, soreness and pain, and as well 
as ever. 

29th, She continues well and has not taken a parti- 
cle of medicine. 

This same day, called to a servant girl in the same 
family, who broke out with the eruption of the small 
pox. I immediately magnetized her, and brought the 
pulse down from ninety per minute to seventy-four, and 
brought her into a perspiration, and her sore throat and 
all her disagreeable and febrile symptoms vanished. It 
took but five minutes to magnetize her. At five o'clock 
I called again, vaccinated four of the family for the kine 
pox, and although she was comfortable, and her pulse 
but eighty, I again magnetized her, brought on perspi- 
ration, and the pulse down to seventy-four again. Thus 
1 went on with this patient, and two others who came 
down in the same family with the small pox, for three 
weeks, and every day put them into a magnetic state, 
until they went through with its natural course, without 
even so much medicine as a dose of physic of any kind. 
The two first were three w r eeks before they began to 
scale off, and the last, being easier effected, I shortened 
his one week in duration, but all, although they w T ere 
covered as much as they generally are with eruption of 
the distinct kind, and had severe symptoms when it first 
made its appearance, were made comfortable by mag- 
netizing, so much so, that they could and did eat any 
and all kinds of vegetable food, with as good appetites 
as ever, and were about the house, and did not lie down 
except for two or three of the first days. I found I 
could control the pulse and skin with magnetizing, and 
therefore " put the ship before the wind and let them 
sail/' without medicine, and the effect was that they 
23* 



200 BAGG ON 

were kept in as good strength as usual or natural, with* 
out raising fever. 

April 23d. Was called suddenly to a child five years 
old, said to be dying. On arriving, I found the little 
sufferer had been for two hours in an appoplectic fit, 
without any thing having been done, although a physi- 
cian was present, and had been for an hour. All were 
expecting to see him breath his last. The house was 
filled with neighbors and friends, all anxious to help by 
both action and prescription. Some were for doing this 
and some that; some said he had worms, some one thing 
and some another, and it appeared to me to be more 
like an ant heap than any thing else, where the little 
.animals or insects are crawling one over another; each 
had a prescription of his own, and were determined it 
should be used. I immediately caught the patient by 
the wrists, placed my fingers upon the pulse, and con- 
centrated my will to throw into the little sufferer's ar- 
terial blood the magnetic fluids. I soon found that I 
raised the pulse a little, and continued on. I then, after 
ten or twenty minutes, shifted to the thumbs, and then 
made passes in the usual manner, from the head through- 
out the system, to endeavor to restore the poles of the 
system from the brain, and notwithstanding the talk and 
noise incident about such cases, I concentrated as much 
as possible, and continued manipulating about an hour 
and a half, and a warm bath having been prepared, I 
consented and put him into it. He had remained there 
but six or eight minutes, when I discovered, by the pulse 
and other symptoms, that it injured him, and took him 
out and recommenced my manipulations, which again 
raised the pulse which had sunk while in the bath. Du- 
ring all this time he had unequal, and more or less, al- 
ternating spasmodic action of the muscles of the head, 
fteck, face,, arm and leg of the right side, which now 
had subsided in a measure. From the history of the 
case, (having been costive all winter) together with the 



MAGNETISM. 261 

hurtful effects of the bath, I reasoned that his head was 
very much congested, and believed it to be an almost 
hopeless case. The doctor and bystanders looking on 
me with not only pity, but derision and contempt, to 
think that I should believe that magnetism could have 
any influence to help him. Partly to gratify them, and 
take off* the responsibility should the case prove fatal, 
I made four incisions into different veins upon his arms 
and hands, without obtaining over a tea-spoon full of 
blood. I also cupped his temples and obtained a little 
more. Injections had been given while I was magnet- 
izing; mustard poultices were now applied to his feet, 
legs and stomach. All these did not change him in the 
least; he remained in a comatose state, insensible, with 
light spasmodic action of the muscles of the right side. 
I now made up my mind that nothing would save him 
but magnetism, and therefore shut my senses to the 
thousand and one prescriptions that were made, and con- 
stantly making for the little sufferer, over and around 
me, gratuitously, as is always the case by the knowing 
ones in such cases, abstracted myself, and concentrated 
upon the child with ail the energies of soul and body. 
After a little time, the pulse became fuller and slower, 
the heat was increased and diffused throughout. In this 
manner, encouraged by the symptom.?, I unremittedly 
continued my operations for four or five hours, until I 
became exhausted, when I sent for two young gentle- 
men of the city, whom I knew r to be good magnetizers. 
They came, and relieved me by turns, and while one of 
them was magnetizing him the spasms ceased. They 
then retired, but I continued on. The whole time, with- 
out cessation, amounted to seven hours that I exerted 
myself in this manner. At length I succeeded in getting 
him into a magnetic sleep, and he lay two hours calm 
and composed,, and I retired to rest. He then became 
restless, and I again put him into the magnetic sleep. I 
continued in this manner, as soon as lie aw r aked, to put 



262 BAG6 ON 

him again into the magnetic sleep, for forty-eight hours, 
when he got so that he had sense and could speak, but 
was yet restless and could not move or feel, either with 
the left arm or leg, or in other words, the apoplexy had 
terminated in a complete hemiplegia or palsy of one 
side. Having been perfectly exhausted with my exer- 
tions, and the patient somewhat relieved from immediate 
danger, although in this situation, at day light I went 
home to get rest, telling his parents, as his bowels were 
still not free, that when I returned I should give him 
calomel for a cathartic. Soon after I had left, the phy- 
sician that was first called, finding that I had got him, 
by my operations, so that he would probably recover, 
called, and found on enquiry, that I was to give him cal- 
omel on my return, and kindly volunteered to give it 
himself, so as to have a hand in the cure, although he 
had said from the commencement that he would not re- 
cover, and it was no use to give him any thing. What 
he gave him made him extremely restless, uneasy and 
painful, and I was sent for before I had got any rest. 
On arriving, I found him threatened with spasms again, 
and asked how much calomel he had taken. They said 
it was a spoonful. I expressed surprise at the quanti- 
ty, when Ihey said it was not a spoonful of clear calo- 
mel, but that he dissolved it in water, and said some of 
it was left in a teacup. I. examined it, and as near as I 
could ascertain, believed . it to be strychnine. He also 
gave him some paragoric. V I then put him again to 
sleep, and he became calm. I continued to do §o all 
day, when he awoke, which was once in about two 
hours, until night, or until about twelve o'clock, when 
a gentleman sitting one side of the bed, and being an 
unbeliever, and his arm and leg remaining both palsied, 
I pinched them, and showed him that he had neither 
sense or motion in that side, and he was pitying the poor 
child, when I took hold of the right hand with my left, 
and placed the point of my thumb to his, after the man- 






MAGNETISM. 263 

ner of magnetizing, and took the fingers of my right 
hand, converged to a cone, and placed them upon the 
left organ of firmness, held them there until an equilib- 
rium of temperature was established, and then, in as 
slow a manner as I could move them, brought them 
down in a circular manner across the head, down the 
left side, past the external ear to the point of the shoul- 
der, along the arm to the extremity of the thumb. This 
I repeated three times in this manner, and at the last 
time touched my thumb to his, and willed him to raise 
his arm, and to my delight, as well as his astonishment, 
he raised it immediately up. This I did a few times. 
and then went behind him, and placed the fingers of 
botli hands, one on each organ of firmness, and willed 
to send the magnetic or nervous fluids to the extremi- 
ties so as to produce motion, and he drew up both hands 
and arms, and made them fly in the air like drum sticks, 
and continued to do so for a few minutes. I then put 
him deeper into the sleep, and he rested quietly for two 
hours; we would then wake him up, give him bread-cof- 
fee, toast-water, or gruel, and then put him to sleep 
again, as he was extremely restless when not under the 
influence of magnetism. The next morning he broke 
out in spots with a rash, more or less diffused, which re- 
sembled scarlatina, which came and w r ent for two or 
three days. During this his bowels were obstinately 
costive, and in conjunction with clysters, castor oil and 
magnetism, I gave him eight grains of calomel, which 
was all the medicine he had during his illness, except 
after two or three days more, I prescribed magnetic 
drops for him, to regulate the bowels. After taking 
them three or four days, in conjunction with injections, 
they became regular, and he now appears as well and 
as healthy as ever, which is a year since. 

Oct. 10th. Was called to J. H. Is of a lymphatic 
and sanguine temperament. Has had for four hours a 
most violent fever; complains of a very severe pain in 



264 BA6G ON 

the head; eyes suffused, and can not set up a moment. 
Commence and put him into a deep magnetic sleep in 
twenty minutes, during which he sweat profusely. I 
then awaked him, and he w T as free from fever and pain, 
and expressed himself as well as ever, and has not been 
confined since. 

Was called to Mrs. L.; has had severe cholic all day; 
can not lie down in bed; has taken various medicines, 
but finds no relief. I immediately placed the tips of the 
fingers of my right hand upon the stomach and clasped 
the left thumb with the other; in six or. eight minutes I 
perceived her eyelids began to lop, and I told her she 
had better lie down. She said she could not, as she had 
frequently tried during the day. I told her she could 
now do so without pain. In a few minutes after getting 
into a recumbent posture, she fell into a deep sleep, and 
was so easy and still, that her father, an aged gentle- 
man, said she was dead, and cried "Mon Dieu! Mon 
Dieu!" I told him that she was so easy that he must 
look sharply or he could not see her breathe; that she 
w r as not dead, but easy; but he crossed himself, and 
paced the floor, shedding tears and ejaculating "Mon 
Dieu! Mon Dieu! she has gone! she has gone!" Soon 
the husband, who had been sent for, returned, and he 
satisfied the old gentleman that she was only sleeping. 
I then left, telling them to let her alone until I should 
come back and awake her myself, which was about two 
hours. During my absence she never moved a limb, 
and breathed so easy that you could hardly see her 
breathe at all. I awaked her by making three reverse 
passes at the distance of six or eight feet. She now 
said she was as well as ever, and I left her and have not 
seen her since. 

C S. is attacked with apoplexy, which terminated in 
palsy of one side; has not spoken or moved the muscles 
of the right side of the body and limbs for two week?, 



MAGNETISM. 265 

and at last was incapable of swallowing. She is now 
perfectly recovered by the use of magnetism alone. 

P. N. a child eighteen months old, had the measles 
four months since in the state of I\ew York, which left 
her with a cough which has continued since. The fam- 
ily expect her death daily from consumption; doctors 
say they can do nothing for her; the family have pur- 
chased in this state, and are obliged to move, and are 
now on the road to the interior; were in hopes the jour- 
ney might help her, but are now in despair. She is 
emaciated and pale; coughs and cries constantly; her 
pulse fly like quicksilver violently agitated in a vial. 
Well knowing she could take nothing, I raised my hand 
and brought it down upon her head, but before I had 
got it within six inches, she fell into a profound sleep. 
Believing it must be an accidental natural sleep, I placed 
my hands each side the head, bringing them within two 
or three inches of its sides, and pulled and pushed back- 
ward and forward, and to the surprise of all present, 
it followed my hands backward and forward, which pro- 
ved it to be magnetic. I then directed the mother to 
lay her down upon the settee, and I continued my man- 
ipulations until they had taken tea, which was ready 
when I commenced. She now lay in a most profound 
sleep, pulse became full and slow, and she breathed so 
easy and natural that she almost seemed to be dead. I 
then left her to sleep until she should aw r ake of her own 
will, and agreed to see her next day, when I called and 
found that she was so much better that her mother has 
carried her out to visit a connection. Next day she 
was so much better that they started on their journey, 
and I never again saw the child. I have since learned 
from their friends that the child commenced to get bet- 
ter from that moment, and is now well. 

Called to O. P.; has a most violent headache, which 
was preceeded with cold chills, and indicates inflamma- 
tion. He disbelieves in magnetism; I therefore took 



266 BAGG ON 

from the arm thirty-two ounces of blood. The bleed- 
ing produced no relief. I then told him to recline upon 
the sofa, (which was at six in the evening) and I would 
try to relieve him with magnetism. In less than five 
minutes he was in a profound sleep, from which he did 
not awake till four in the morning, bathed in perspira- 
tion, and perfectly recovered, went to work, and has 
continued well since. 

July 5th. Called to a child two years old, who has 
chronic bronchitis; is cross and petulent; has been sick 
six weeks; has had three or four different physicians, 
and is in this condition; does not sleep a moment with- 
out laudanum, and then* is obliged to take physic, thus 
alternating between these, with a severe cough and la- 
borious breathing; will not let me come sufficiently near 
to examine the pulse. I at once put her to sleep by 
manipulating the top and back of the head. Fearing 
she might wake in the night from her cough, I magnet- 
ized two table spoons full of water, to be given in the 
night when she wanted drink, to continue her asleep, 
and to produce two motions of the bowels next morn- 
ing. In the forenoon of the next day I called, and found 
the medicine (magnetized water) had operated as I wash- 
ed, and my patient running about out doors. A few 
more sleeps and magnetized water produced a cure. 

Oct 2d. Called to a child six months old, that has been 
attended for the last month with the bowel or common 
summer complaint, until it is reduced to the verge of 
the grave, and is nothing but skin and bones. The at- 
tending physician had given it up, saying <rits head is 
full of water, and it must die." I commenced and mag- 
netized once and twice a day for five or six days, gave 
it magnetic powders, magnetized all its drinks, and it 
soon recovered, and is now an interesting child. 

Jan'y 1st. P. H. has had, for the last six days, a most 
violent periodical pain over one eye; has had a physi- 
cian who has bled and catharticised him in the usual 



MAGNETISM. 267 

allocopathic manner, three or four times, but all to no 
purpose, except to debilitate the general system. Com- 
mence and magnetize the part by making passes and 
breathing on it. After repeating the operation, he im- 
mediately went about his work, and has continued per- 
fectly well since. 

C. D. is effected with erysipelatous inflammation of 
one limb, from the knee to the extremity. It is hot red 
and swollen, so that she can not walk. Twice mag- 
netizing perfectly cured it, without the least medicine. 

Dec. 15th. Was called to O. P.; has had the delirium 
tremens for two weeks; has been attended by three or 
four of the best physicians in the city, who succeeded 
in mitigating the disease and giving him some sleep, but 
has now relapsed; is so delirious as to be bound down 
to the bed w;th cords, fastened around the wrists, that 
have now imprinted themselves into his arms the thick- 
ness of the cord; has torn his bed all to rags. Com- 
mence on Monday morning, and in ten minutes put him 
to sleep and left him. Called at noon and found that he 
had slept but one hour, and then awaked as crazy as 
ever. I then put him to sleep and he slept till night, 
when I awaked him and found him rational but weak; 
gave him some chicken tea, put him again into a state of 
somnambulism, and he slept till morning. 

Tuesday morning. Found him rational, and able to 
walk about the house, but put him to sleep, and he slept 
till noon. Called again and awaked him; gave him some 
chicken tea, put him to sleep and he, slept till night. At 
night made some long passes over him, but did not put 
him to sleep, as he was rational, had strength to walk 
about out doors, and had a good appetite. It was now 
six o'clock, and fearing he might not sleep well, I told 
him to go to bed at nine, and that as it was some dis- 
tance, half or three quarters of a mile, to my house, 
I would put him to sleep from thence. This, on being 
told by him to the family, excited them and friends to 
24 



268 BAGG ON 

congregate and watch him at the time. He, however, 
went into so deep a sleep at nine that they or their 
friends could not wake him by crying fire or shaking 
him severely, and slept all night. 

Wednesday morning. Made long passes over him, 
and told him, although the weather was cold, to go out. 
Evening. Called and made some more long passes, mag- 
netized a wine glass full of common pump water, told 
him to go to bed at nine, drink the water, and it would 
make him sleep well all night. On going home, I met 
two gentlemen who wished me to return and touch his 
phrenological organs. I declined, saying he was too 
feeble, that I had left him for the night, and could not 
alter my directions. They asked me if I could put him 
to sleep again from home; I told them I would try, and 
nine was the hour fixed on. I proceeded homeward and 
they went their way. At nine I commenced and con- 
centrated, and put him so deeply to sleep that they (some 
seven or eight gentlemen) could not wake him. One of 
them pinched up the skin and thrust a pin three times 
through and through, but could not wake him. To as- 
tonish them still more, while I had him asleep, I willed 
him slowly to raise his arm, and bring his hand as high, 
and almost on to the top of his head, as also to raise up 
his right leg in bed. Believing that some of the party 
would be at my house, I set up till ten minutes past ten, 
when three of the gentlemen called, and assured me 
that I had succeeded as above, but that two or three of 
the gentlemen present were yet sceptical, but if I would 
awake him at precisely half past ten, keep him awake 
ten minutes, and then put him to sleep again, so that he 
could not be awaked, it would convince all, and tell 
loudly for animal magnetism. We compared clock and 
watches, and they retired. When the time arrived I en- 
deavored to awake him, and three minutes before the 
ten minutes were up, I thought I would commence to 
concentrate to put him to sleep, in order to perform it 



MAGNETISM. 269 

to a minute, but next morning they informed me that all 
was performed as agreed, but that he fell asleep three 
minutes before the time. He had now recovered his 
health, and I have never seen him but once or twice 
since. 

It is well known to all who have read medicine and 
surgery with the celebrated Dr. Joseph White, of Cher- 
ryvalley, or received lectures of him at the college at 
Fairfield, that friction with animal oil was his universal 
remedy for almost every disease of a surgical nature, 
where external applications were used, and they w T ill 
further attest its efficacy, above all others, as a general 
remedy. Now we can at once see that the oil was of 
little or no use, and that the cure depended on restoring 
the equilibrium by animal magnetism. 

Holstead, of New York, became celebrated for curing 
the dyspepsia by only kneading the bowels, which we 
could not then understand, but now know it to be from 
animal magnetism, as well as all those old fashioned 
cures or remedies, such as charms, talking out fire from 
burns, healing old sores and ulcers with the sweet apple 
or hazlenut sticks, cut on the end into the form of a tri- 
angle, as well as the stroke of the seventh son. In each 
case, the hand was passed over the part, and he who 
operated had a motive, which impelled him onward, that 
amounted to will. 

Perkins became celebrated with his tractors or me- 
talic points, and justiy so too, for it was acknowledged 
that he performed the cures; but he was doomed to ob- 
livion by a certain other physician, curing in the same 
manner, with wooden points or tractors. But we now 
can see that it was the hand back of both, with the will, 
that produced the cures in both instances. All the cures 
that have been performed by the most common hand up 
to the Boston blacksmith, related by Dr. Warren; either 
with or without washes or liniments, with the flesh 



270 BAGG ON 

brush or the naked hand, may be attributed to animal 
magnetism. 

Gaping, yawning, stretching, coughing, sneezing and 
hiccough, are but nature's efforts to restore lost equilib- 
rium in the muscular and membraneous systems, as well 
as stomach. They act like so many galvanic batteries 
to the various systems they equalize. These we have 
but to mention to the ingenious and observing to be be- 
lieved and appreciated. 

Such are some of the numerous cases that have been 
treated by me with magnetism, for the last two years. 
To detail one half of the cases that have come under 
my observation and treatment, would swell this volume 
vastly beyond our prescribed limits. To disabuse the 
public mind of an impression that has become general. 
we would observe, that magnetism is as applicable to 
one disease as another, and therefore not confined, as 
some imagine, to rheumatism and palsy. 

If disease be a unit, what will cure one disease under 
certain circumstances, will cure another. It is but very 
late that magnetism has been used at all for the cure of 
disease, in this country, and where it has been, (except 
now and then by a physician in practice) it has been in 
those cases that have been thrown upon the shelf by 
physicians as incurable. Hence it has been used or ap- 
plied more in those diseases than any other, because the 
most severe and least understood. But where it has 
been used in acute diseases by myself, I can not now 
remember a case where it has failed, if timely adminis- 
tered. Generally, we can cure a common fever in from 
twenty minutes to an hour. I make it a standing rule, 
where they have sufficient confidence to let me use it, 
never to leave the house, in acute diseases, till they are 
cured or made comfortable. Some will say, why then 
did you not cure the above cases without giving medi- 
cines? The truth is, as we have attempted to explain, 
it is a doctrine of attraction and repulsion, as well with 






MAGNETISM. 271 

regard to mind as matter, and if they have not at least 
confidence sufficient to remain passive, it is useless to 
attempt to affect them. Many persons, through fear of 
being injured or laughed at by their neighbors and friends, 
resist the influence and repel it from them, and then if 
they are not cured, go off and call it a humbug. Such 
are the prejudices of the people, that if a medical man, 
of good standing in society, of acknowledged skill in the 
old fashioned practice, attempts to cure by magnetism, 
he loses his practice, and becomes a laughing stock to 
community. They are so accustomed to ride to the 
grave upon the calomel hobby-horse, that they can not 
be made to believe in the efficacy of a different method. 
They had rather continue and risk themselves under 
that treatment, than be cured by a shorter and better 
process. Those who have attempted to establish the 
new practice, have met with the common fate of all 
who ever attempted to establish or make any improve- 
ment in science or the mechanic arts, recorded in histo- 
ry. Gallileo was thrust into the inquisition for conceiv- 
ing and teaching that the earth revolved upon its axis 
every twenty-four hours, although the most ignorant of 
the present day w r ould be thought silly indeed to disbe- 
lieve it. Dr. Harvey, for discovering and teaching the 
present theory of the circulation of the blood, lost a 
lucrative practice in the city of London. Fulton, of 
our own country, was called insane for years by the 
would-be intellectual aristocracy of New York, and was 
called an old hair-brained fool by the dandies of Albany, 
in his failure on his first attempt to get his steam vessel 
across the Hudson to Grcenbush; and although he was 
ultimately completely successful, and conferred such 
great and lasting blessings upon his country and man- 
kind, he died poor, and his country has seen his heirs in 
poverty, without relieving their necessities. Whitney, 
the young collegiate genius, who invented the cotton- 
gin, the machine for picking out the green seeds from 
24* 



272 BAGG ON 

the cotton, and thereby gave a new era to the agricul- 
tural, commercial and manufacturing world, as well as 
by making it the great staple, and thereby enriching the 
whole south beyond comparison, as well as the whole 
world, was paid by being cheated, sued, harrassed and 
robbed until the day of his death by the very persons 
he most benefitted. 

Dr. Elliottson, President of the RoyalSoeiety'of Lon- 
don, was removed for declaring his convictions of the 
truth of animal magnetism and phrenology; but like a 
true philosopher, he chose to hold fast the truth let what 
would come, and is now in the ascendant, looking down 
upon his persecutors with pity, still contributing to both. 
It is then absolutely necessary, with all our boasted in- 
telligence, liberal spirit and toleration, to commence and 
advance step by step* in a gradual manner, by slow and 
insensible degrees, as it were, in any new science, art or 
practice. Had I, in many of these and other cases, 
commenced at the onset .with magnetism, I should at 
once have got my dismissal, and some other, who would 
have pandered to their pampered jallap and calomel ap- 
petites, would have been called. 

There are many considerations in this democratic land, 
why a man can not, in the miserable vassalage of the 
practice of medicine, take and maintain an independent 
course, and "live and thrive," and carry out any new 
system, however important and true. There is such a 
thing as being so free and independent, as to be your own 
divine, your own lawyer and doctor, and own paymas- 
ter, and make your own laws for the time to pay in too. 
There is such a thing as to be so liberally educated, and 
so wise in our own estimation, as to not be able to see 
the truth at noonday. Man is emphatically the creature 
of habit and custom, and of all the struggles that a pro- 
fessional man has to encounter, and particularly the 
physician, is ignorance and the prejudices that spring 
and flow from that most fruitful source. Were a man 



MAGNETISM. 273 

independent of all pecuniary considerations, he might 
set ignorance at defiance. But money is the god that 
the great majority worship. The man is measured by 
the cloth in his coat, whether spun so many skeins to 
the pound or less. 

In former times we read that it was manners and in- 
telligence that made the man, but now it is changed to 
ignorance, impudence and wealth. Did the masses be- 
lieve in the influence of magnetism to remove disease, 
the results would be infinitely more successful. We 
have now to contend with, not only the prejudices and 
the wills of the patients, but the whole neighborhood, 
ministers, doctors, judges, school masters, lawyers and 
"lawyers apprentices" What success has a speaker 
in convincing an audience, if they go to hear him with 
a deep rooted prejudice not to believe a word he utters? 
A few years since, and a few persons in Massachusetts 
were attracted together to form a temperance society; 
mind after mind, individual after individual, has been 
added, until now, not only the majority of this nation is 
temperate and abstinent, but like an epidemic, it has 
spread throughout Europe, redeeming and confirming 
multitudes in the wisdom and necessity of the " sober 
second thought." So also with magnetism. It is so big, 
fraught with results so astounding and novel, so incom- 
prehensible to the indolent and ignorant, who find it 
much easier to stand at a distance, and look on and cry 
humbug, than to approach and investigate it. 

To enforce conviction under all these circumstances, 
is truly an " uphill business," but it must and will, like 
all others akin to it, ultimately succeed, for " truth is 
mighty and must prevail." It is, I repeat, a doctrine of 
attraction and repulsion, and requires belief, conviction 
and faith. I know the ignorant and interested will sneer 
and turn up their noses, even at this, at the mention of 
belief and faith, but it forms the very essence of success, 



274 BAGG ON 

and is taught in the sacred scriptures and all profane 
history. 

Does not the longest journey that was ever made re- 
quire the first step] and was that step ever taken with- 
out a motive sufficient to move the subject to take it? 
Can it be done without the exercise of the will! and 
what attracts the person to a decision of that will] Is 
it not belief of some interest or benefit to be gained — 
faith? The mind has, from the first dawn of medical 
science, been known to have great influence in not only 
curing, but producing disease. It is in reality, at this 
time, if we look about us, no novelty, except that mag- 
netism demonstrates it with mathematical certainty. It 
has been known and acknowledged from time immemo- 
rial, that fear directly debilitated the system, and pro- 
duced diseases of different classes, as dyspepsia, hypo- 
chondriasiss, hysteria, &c, and that confidence stimula- 
ted and cured these diseases, as well as a variety of 
others. Is fear a corporeal material substance, or con- 
fidence, either] Joy will directly strengthen, and grief 
weaken or debilitate the system. Is there any material 
cause in joy or grief] All the other passions of the 
mind operate in the same manner, the one to raise, and 
its antagonist to weaken the system. Can we not all 
see in what an awkward position it places those who be- 
lieve that material substances are the cause of disease] 
Do we not see that from the very nature of things, that 
material causes are never the cause of disease] Are 
not (even among the common writers on the present 
systems of the practice of medicine) nine tenths of the 
causes of all diseases attributed to colds and heats, and 
passions of the mind, and irregularity of sleeping and 
waking] Are the sensations of heat and cold material 
substances] Have we not clearly shown them to be 
sensations of the body, from the effects of the magnetic 
fluids, over and over again, in a variety of views of 
mind and matter] 






MAGNETISM. 275 

So well lias this general principle been understood by 
the medical faculty, that teachers and writers deem it 
indispensible, and therefore inculcate it to their pupils as 
the first point to be accomplished — to get the confidence 
of their patients. Is there any corporeal substance in 
the confidence of the patient? Why is this confidence 
necessary, if the cure is to be performed by a known 
materia! remedy, acting on the physical or material sys- 
tem, at all times in a particular manner certain and de- 
cisive? Is this confidence any thing but a different term 
for belief or faith? and what is this faith but sympathy 
or attraction? Many a physician who is ignorant of his 
profession, but excels in a smooth speech, gift of gab, 
as it is called, or has persuasive eloquence, will have 
better success than one of better reading and knowledge, 
who is destitute of these natural gifts. " Eloquence," 
says Daniel Webster, "is the gift of God, and can never 
be acquired by art, without this gift, or when it is want- 
ing," which is true to the letter. 

Among the writers upon confidence, may be recorded 
that scientific, good man and skillful practitioner, Dr. 
Rush, w T ho tells us that it is essential that we make our 
patient believe that a medicine will have the effect we 
wish it, or if you please, will it to have; and that a 
doubtful remedy, with this premonition, will have a more 
decided effect, than another, of more general certainty, 
without preparation of mind. The sacred writings are 
full of these axioms or sayings, to prove the necessity 
of first operating upon the mind, or to show 7 that the 
mind has the controlling influence over the body. In- 
deed, it shows it to be the cause and cure of not only 
diseases, but knows nothing or inculcates nothing of the 
body, but a mass of matter, animated and moved by an 
essence or spirit. 

We make a few quotations from Christ and his apos- 
tles, such as " according to your faith, be it unto you;" 
"as a man thinketh, so is he;" "thy faith hath saved 



276 BAGG ON 

thee, go in peace;" "as thou hast believed, so be it unto 
you;" " stretch forth thy hand, and he stretched it forth, 
and was healed;" "O thou of little faith, wherefore 
did'st thou doubt;" "O woman, great is thy faith, be it 
unto thee as thou wilt;" "because of your unbelief you 
could not cast out devils;" "if you have faith and doubt 
not, you shall do this which is done to the fig tree, but 
also if ye shall say unto this mountain ' be thou removed, 
and be thou cast into the sea,' it shall be done;" "for it 
is the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believeth," Paul; "for therein is the righteousness of 
God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written the just 
shall live by faith;" "for what if some did not believe? 
shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect;" 
"do we then make void the law through faith]" "God 
forbid, yea we establish the law;" "Abraham believed 
God, and it was imputed unto him righteousness;" "there- 
fore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ;" "so faith cometh by 
hearing, and hearingiy the word of God." 

Thus, then the book of revelation and the book of na- 
ture, both go hand in hand to establish the principle of 
the great necessity of faith or belief, a necessary requi- 
site for the accomplishment of an object, or obtaining 
an end or effect, and thus the divine and philosopher 
justly labor to inculcate the same general principles, 
the one toward God and the invisible kingdom of hea- 
ven, the other toward man and his invisible spirit or 
mind. The doctrine, then, of equilibrium, as taught by 
magnetism, and the operations of mind, as illustrated 
and explained by our principle, confirms, sustains and 
elucidates the principle of the christian religion, inculca- 
ted in the sacred writings, better than any other system 
of philosophy hitherto disseminated among mankind. 
Indeed it is in perfect coincidence with the general prin- 
ciple of conduct inculcated throughout the scriptures by 
Christ and his apostles. 






MAGNETISM. 277 

No man can become a good christian, and walk right- 
eously, without faith, for faith is the very governing 
principle of the will, the motive which determines the 
action. No person can be affected by the will of anoth- 
er without sufficient faith to accomplish the cure, or be- 
lief to attract them to the commencement of a trial. 
" Though I speak with the tongue of men and angels, 
and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass 
and tinkling cymbals. And although I bestow all my 
goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned, 
and have not charity, it prohteth me nothing. Charity 
suftereth long and is kind. Charity envieth not; chari- 
ty vaunteth not itself; is not puffed up; doth not behave 
itself unseemly; seeketh not her own; is not easily pro- 
voked; thinketh no evil:; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but 
rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all 
things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. And 
now abideth faith, hope, charity, but the greatest of 
these is charity." — Paul. 

Charity, then, appears to be the natural impulse that 
sets the will in motion to perform the conduct of a 
christian, from the natural affinity to truth, to do good 
for the consolation it adbrds. Charity, then, directs the 
acts of the will from the natural attraction of virtue as 
its own reward. Charity, then, seems to be a word 
comprehending all the christian virtues, and is synono- 
mous with general benevolence. Charitv, then, stands 
antagonized to hypoeracy and the whole cohort of vices 
flowing from vanity and self-esteem. Thus, then, hope, 
faith, belief, charity, are all twin sisters, inculcated by 
the sacred scriptures as necessary to salvation. They 
are not the less necrssary to accomplish events in the 
common course of conduct in life, and the cure of dis- 
ease. 

History informs us that those who have performed 
the greatest exploits, accomplished the most powerful 
actions and results among mankind, are those who were 



i 



278 BAGG ON 

endowed with an unshaken and abiding faith, which 
gave energy to the most powerful and concentrated vo- 
litions, amounting to a perfect conviction of their ac- 
complishment before commencing to perform them — a 
kind of intuitive certainty or earnest of their success. 
No man can or will concentrate his will to the success- 
ful accomplishment of an object, without he has an in- 
ternal belief, amounting to conviction, of its ultimate 
certainty. 

To pass over Hannibal, Alexander, and the Roman 
generals, Bonaparte conquered because he " was resolv- 
ed to conquer. 7 ' He had great discrimination, and but 
few could stand the piercing glance of his magnetic eye, 
and when he had once formed his judgment, never pon- 
dered or reconsidered, but put his indomitable will into 
execution, and this was the great secret of his success. 
Like some rules in courts of law, where we are not per- 
mitted to look behind the record, he never looked back 
or behind, a judgment once formed, but on the contrary, 
like a mad ox, who shuts up his eyes and pushes with 
his horn, he shut his eyes to all other objects but the 
accomplishment of his purpose. He willed and it was 
done; and thus from a rapid series of judgments to the 
most determined volitions, almost as rapid as the thun- 
der follows the lightning, from object to object, consti- 
tuted him the most successful general and greatest man 
upon record in the annals of history. 

Although he might be called the greatest, Washington 
of our own country, was the best, and stands unrivalled 
as the great benefactor of mankind. He was also char- 
acterized by a faith amounting to almost certainty. 
Nothing but his abiding faith could have kept him for 
years struggling, with a handful of half-starved and half- 
clad patriots, against the armies of England, and our 
own tories almost equaling in numbers his entire army; 
but yet, by his hope, faith, characteristic and determin- 
ed will, he succeeded in being the liberator of his coun- 



MAGNETISM. 279 

try. In our time, the conduct of General Jackson, 
whether at the head of the army or the government, 
was distinguished by a great decision of character, 
which is synonymous with volitions. It was his partic- 
ular trait of character, which in both situations, wheth- 
er at the head of the government or the army, in the 
cabinet or the field, stamped him emphatically as a great 
man, and will carry his name down to posterity as such. 
David Crockett, the hunter, but hero of the Alamo, had 
all the characteristics of a great man; sagacity, firmness, 
and a determined will to carry his judgments into exe- 
cution. His well known motto, "be sure you're right, 
then go ahead," is the true principle, and although la- 
conic, comprises the whole, and all that is necessary to 
constitute a great man. In a word, man is successful 
or otherwise, in the events of human life, in proportion 
to his faith and the strength of his volitions. His con- 
ceptions or knowledge is obtained by attraction, but car- 
ried out by volition, or by the law of repulsion. What- 
ever, then, we do, to be best done, should be done "with, 
all our might." 

From what has been seen, it must be inferred that 
life is commenced and continued by the operation of the 
magnetic forces. That food has no other effect than to 
keep the galvanic batteries of the system of batteries in 
repair; that all remedies, although in a natural form, 
have no other effect, if beneficial, than to restore the 
lost equilibrium, (which is disease itself) and when med- 
icine acts detrimental, to break up that equilibrium, and 
produce one or other extreme; and that disease is at all 
times a unit, and is never caused by material substance 
or ponderable matter. That remedies, like the magnet, 
can be exalted in virtues, or increased from their natu- 
ral condition by the magnetic fluids, and that these can 
be communicated by the will of one person by repulsion 
to that of another by attraction; and that, from facte 
which we have collected by great labor, disease can b# 
25 






280 BAGG ON 



cured much quicker and easier, and the system left bet- 
ter, by the will, than in any other manner, and that in 
former times it constituted the only method of practice. 
This being conceded, it will at once be seen that in- 
stead of the ordinary practice of reducing a patient 
down to " death's door" to cure a disease, and then 
bring him up again above the natural standard, is unne- 
cessary, wrong and pernicious. Does not the disease 
itself from its inequality, dibilitate! and to add more, 
will it cure it] Will two wrongs make one right! Will 
two errors make a truth! Never! Is there any skill, 
when a patient is debilitated, to go to work with reme- 
dies to weaken still more, in order to strengthen him! 
If a packhorse is staggering under a load he is unable 
to carry, should we increase that load to remove the 
evil! 

The new system has not only the superiority of curing 
in a few moments, many times, where the other will 
take as many days; but the patient is left in as good 
strength as when attacked by the disease. Will it not, 
then, commend itself to the suffering community! We 
have only further to say, on this branch of the sub- 
ject, that what we have detailed in regard to the cure 
of the various cases of disease, is every word minutely 
true, mostly occurred in this city, and could have been 
substantiated by unimpeachable testimony were it deem- 
ed necessary. 









MAGNETISM. 

CHAPTER XV. 



281 



PHRENOLOGV PROVED BY MAGNETISM REVERSION' OF 

POLES. 




No. 1. — ^Locomotion. 
V 2. — Amativeness. 
y 3. — Philoprogenitive- 
ness. 

4. — Inhabitiveness. 

5. — x\diiesivcness. 

6. — Secretiveness. 

7. — Combativeness. 

8. — fVitativeness. 

9.— *Satietv. 



No. 10.' — Destructiveness. 

" 11. — Alimentativeness. 

" 12. — limitation. 

" 13. — Acquisitiveness. 

" 14. — Concentrative: 

" 15. — Approbate veness. 

« 16. — Self-esteem. 

" 1 7. — Cautiousness. 

" 18. — Conseieneiousnesi 

" 19. — Firmness. 



2S2 BAGG ON 

No. 20. — Veneration. No. 36. — Size. 

" 21.— Hope. " 37.— Weight. 

« 22.— Ideality. u 38.— Color. 

Ci 23.— Marvellousness. " 39.— Order. 

" 24. — Benevolence. " 40. — Calculation. 

" 25. — Comparison. " 41. — Language. 

« 26.— Causality. " 42. — *Grief, despohdcn- 

" 27.— Humor/ cy, disposition to shed 

" 28.— Tune. tears. 

" 29. — Constructiveness. " 43. — fMirthfuluess, 

" 30. — Proper names laughter, levity. 

" 31.— Time. " 44.— ^Faculty to dis- 

" 32. — Locality. criminate different 

" 33. — Eventuality. things by taste. 

" 34. — Individuality. " 45. — ^Instrumental mu- 

" 35. — Form. sic. 
Those organs discovered by the author, are mark- 
ed *. Those re-located, are marked f . 

Whatever may have been the opinions of writers 
upon mind, for past centuries, from the rapid improve- 
ment in anatomical science and physiology for the last, 
they now all generally agree in one point at least, that 
the brain, including the organs of sense, are the mate- 
rial organs of mind. More recently, from the labors 
and observations of Gall, Spurzheim, Combe, Elliotson, 
Fowler, Jones, Parnel, Grimes, Collier, and others, a 
considerable portion of community were inclined to dis- 
believe in the old theory of the unity of mind, and be- 
lieve that it was the result of a plurality of organs. 
While the science was thus fluttering in the breeze of 
public opinion, some believing one way and some an- 
other, the mysterious influence of magnetism, after the 
lapse of ages, (with a few exceptions) was called to its 
aid, and we now know, by the light of that principle, 
that phrenological science is not only true, but are en- 
abled to detect the reason why its advocates failed in 



MAGNHTI.-M. 483 

pointing out some of the manifestations of mind; the 
organs were not rightly located. 

It had been known and acknowledged for ages that 
those persons that looked alike acted alike, that children 
of the same parents, with the same education, (as near 
as possible) were different in talents, conduct, virtue, 
vice, quickness of perception, reflection and retention 
of what they had acquired, as well as ingenuity in com- 
bining new associations of thought, and inventing new 
systems, fabricating new objects, or taking new or un- 
marked trains or courses of conduct in life. If I give 
my friend or enemy a blow, he at once ("similia simi- 
libus'') becomes as it were monimaniacal, and combat- 
iveness is excited to return it, to chastise me for the as- 
sault, (repulsion to repulsion). But if I commence to 
laugh, my friend will also commence by sympathy, and 
laugh also, (attraction). In both cases the equilibrium 
of the mind is broken up, and reason and judgment are 
lost or wanting; but soon the equilibrium is restored, 
previous to which the antagonizing extreme is produced, 
as the patient, if not perfectly hardened, feels compunc- 
tion from conscientiousness on the one hand, or grief is 
produced as antagonistic to the oilier. We might 
on and enumerate the whole of the manifestations of 
mind, and show them all to be d« on the same 

ami to operate in the same manner in a natural or 

. : ary state, in the common transactions of hui 
or in what we have termed (chap; ix.) the mini- 
mum of magnetism. But it is not our purpose 
her/ to go into detail, or to bring forward other proof? 
of phrenological science than those affoi magnet- 
ism itself. We therefore have only to say that phre- 
nology teaches and proves by magnetism that not only 

brain is the organ of mind, but that it is a iv*u 
an equilibrium of action between a plurality <rf organ*. 
and disproves the principle inculcated for aget, that Hut* 
is a unit. 

•25* 



284 BAGG G!V 

July, 1842. C. M. was put into a magnetic state, 
We were totally unacquainted with phrenology, and did 
not know the location of a single organ, having never 
attended but one lecture upon the science or subject, 
and like many others, from sheer prejudice alone, de- 
termined not to believe it, and therefore eluded every 
opportunity of informing ourself upon the subject. 
This day in the morning, on which I magnetized him 
in the evening, a friend placed in my hands a Philadel- 
phia paper, giving an account of some phrenological ex- 
periments that had been exhibited in that city, from 
touching or insulating the organs, while in a magnetic 
state, by the will of the magnetizer. I was therefore 
determined to try the experiment this evening, although 
I had not much hope of succeeding, believing it to be a 
kind of second "moon story." The time arrived, and 
I put him into a complete magnetic sleep, but not know- 
ing the location of the organs, I knew not where to 
touch. I had a work on phrenology with a chart, in 
the office, but it could not then be found, but by some 
cause or other, I asked him where I should touch him 
to make him laugh. He immediately raised up his arm 
and took a circle with his forefinger and brought it un- 
der the cheek bone, directly at the point marked 43 in 
the chart. I placed my finger upon the point indicated, 
and he immediately broke out with a most hearty and 
loud fit of laughter. I then told him to point out in 
succession all the most important manifestations spoken 
of by phrenologists, and to my surprise, wonder and 
astonishment, he did it with great accuracy, as I after- 
wards learned by comparing them with Jones, Grimes, 
and others, both on his own head and mine, with the 
exception of the organs of mirth and imitation, which 
he located as we see in the chart, 43 and 12, which by 
this clairvoyant, and confirmed by at least fifty since, l 
olaim to have rightly re-located, as well as having dis- 
covered satiety, taste, instrumental music, grief and h- 



MAONETiflM. 285 

amotion. This evening, by putting my fingers on the 
organ of time, he told correctly at different times to a 
minute the time of night, without any one or himself 
looking at a watch or clock. This subject was but six- 
teen years old, poor in his education, simple and honest 
in his demeanor, and when awaked could not remember 
a syllable that had transpired while in the magnetic- 
sleep, and knew no more of phrenology than he did of 
algebra or geometry, which he had never studied. It 
could not have been a reflection of my mind, or produced 
by my will, as I was at that time perfectly ignorant of the 
location of any organ, having studiously avoided it from 
prejudice against the science, believing it incuredj fatal- 
ism and led to infidelity, except that I knew or believed 
that mirth was somewhere on the top of the head, 
w r hereas he located it at 43, and where we shall endeav- 
or to prove it to be located in the sequel. 

A few w T eeks after this, wmile lecturing upon the sub- 
ject of magnetism, and endeavoring to prove phrenolo- 
gy by its mysterious light, and convincing the audience 
by contrasting one organ with another in succession, 
such as philoprogenitiveness with destrnctiveness, sccrc- 
tiveness with benevolence, mirthfulness with veneration, 
combativeness with both, &c,, the thought occurred to 
me that there must be an organ more diametrically op- 
posed to mirth, and which would give a greater con- 
trast before an audience. Accordingly, alter the lec- 
ture was closed, and we had retired to our lodgings, I 
put him to sleep and asked him where I should touch 
him to make him cry. He immediately raised his arm, 
performed a circuit, (which they generally do) and put 
his finger upon the point below the eyeball, marked -12. 
I then excited it by placing my finger upon the organ, 
and he cried like an infant. I then awaked him, but he 
remained gloomy and downcast all day, or until I had 
again put him to sleep. We had not at this time learn- 



1 



286 BAGO ox 

ed the necessity of demesmerizing the organ, or taking 
the influence off completely. 

C. D. of the village of — — , called on me, and 

complains of pain in the back shooting occasionally into 
different internal organs. Doctors call it spinal mural- 
gia. Has taken the usual remedies for the last year, 
without relief. Is examined by my clairvoyant and pro- 
nounced to be susceptible of the magnetic influence, 
and says that it will cure him. After the lecture closed 
and I had retired to my room, I commenced to magnet- 
ize him, and in about two hours succeeded in throwing 
him into a complete state of perfect somnambulism. 1 
then asked him to point out, one after the other, the 
organs on his own head, as well as mine and others, 
which he did in the most perfect and systematic man- 
ner, confirming the new locations of mirth and imita- 
tion, and the one discovered called grief. Being in a 
clairvoyant state, I directed him to examine himself and 
see if he could be cured by magnetizing, when after a 
little time, he confirmed the judgment formed by my 
clairvoyant. I then touched the organs, and he reacted 
or responded so quick and with such a loud tone of 
voice, as to be audible all over a large room, indeed, as 
loud as is necessary for any speaker before an assembly, 
in order to be well understood. I found him so suscep- 
tible to the influence of my will, that 1 engaged him to 
accompany me as a clairvoyant, promising to cure him 
of his disease before we should return, which I did do. 
He gained in flesh, as could be seen, and was proved by 
being repeatedly weighed, a pound a day for twenty 
days, and perfectly recovered his health. He was put 
to sleep on an average three times a day for thirty or 
forty days. This clairvoyant, as well as the other, was 
perfectly ignorant of the location of a single organ when 
awake, but when in a somnambulic or magnetic state, 
were good phrenologists, and could not in their waking 
or natural state remember a word ©r incident that had 



MAGNETISM. 287 

transpired in the magnetic state. I was therefore very 
particular to keep them ignorant, and directed thern not 
to learn on any considerations, as it spoke volumes in 
favor of the science, and of its mysterious operations 
when applied to that science. It was this somnambule 
that never failed to tell correctly the politics of every- 
one he examined in my public lectures, sometime ten or 
a dozen an evening or a lecture. He at all times dis- 
tinguished clergymen, and told correctly what particu- 
lar doctrine they preached or taught. 

Sept. 10. Put into the magnetic sleep an Irish boy, 
eight years old; he was of a strictly lymphatic temper- 
ament, and went into a perfect state. I touched or ex- 
cited the organ of mirth, and he immediately became 
convulsed with laughter. I then bid him point out, on 
both his own head and mine, the phrenological organs, 
and he did it with so much skill and precision as not to 
suffer in comparison with a Fowler or a Parnell. I then 
excited the organs promiscously, and he responded with 
great effect, convincing all who witnessed the experi- 
ments of the truth of phrenology, and astonishing all 
with the results of that mysterious influence, which like 
supernatural intelligence, should, when under the influ- 
ence of magnetism, enable an ignorant boy, eight years 
old, who could neither read or write, to become a good 
phrenologist, and when off, could not even give a name 
to an organ, or remember a word that had transpired 
All who witnessed the experiments knew him; that he 
belonged to their village; That he was, in short, as ig- 
norant a boy as could be picked out of the streets, and 
that I had never seen him until he was brought into the 
room by themselves, and that I had never been with 
him alone a moment. 

Oct. 11. Put O. P., of the village of A ft, into 

the magnetic state; a girl thirteen years old. Excited 
combativeness, and she immediately clenched her 
and deait out her blows with the dexteritv and adroit- 



288 BAGG ON 

ness of a sailor. I then asked her to point out, one af- 
ter the other, the manifestations of mind, which she did 
with distinctness and precision. All who know her, at- 
test that she knows nothing of phrenology in her natu- 
ral state. 

Oct. 11. Called to C. S. of the same village; is the 
patient spoken of in chap, xxxn, who when looked at 
in the face by myself or others, can not resist immode- 
rate fits of laughter, which is immediately succeeded by 
fits of peevishness and fretfulness. On examination, be- 
lieving these organs magnetized or unnaturally excited 
by an undue and unnatural quantum of magnetic fluid, 
or that the disease consisted in a want of equilibrium in 
the organs or manifestations of mind, that some had too 
much, others too little, I immediately applied my finger 
to the organ of mirth, and he became convulsed with 
laughter. I then changed it to the organ of eombative- 
ness, and he clenched his fist and made a pass at me, 
although in the natural state, or without this organ thus 
excited, he could not raise up his arms. I then excited 
destructiveness in the same manner, and he became 
more enraged. Finding him in this state of unequal 
action, with the poles from the brain reversed, and in- 
creased in some and diminished in others, I concluded 
by magnetizing the whole brain and system, and there- 
by producing an equilibrium, exciting some organs and 
demagnetizing others, I could by these means restore 
him. Accordingly he was put into a most perfect state 
of somnambulism, became clairvoyant, said it would 
cure him, and directed the operations. As soon as he 
was put into this state he ceased laughing and even to 
smile, and looked grave and dignified instead of looking 
and acting foolish as before. I then asked him to point 
out the most prominent organs of mind, which he rea- 
dily did, one after the other, as though he were a Gall 
or a Spurzheim, not one of which he could locate when 
the influence was taken off. 



MAGNETISM. 2^0 

Oct. 12. P. S. a gentleman high in office of the vil- 
lage of A n, is now perfectly magnetized in one 

hour by my clairvoyant. On asking he points out all 
the prominent phrenological organs. When excited by 
me, ho responds in a natural good audible tone of voice. 
He is now awaked, the influence taken off, and he is 
asked to point out the manifestations of mind, but knows 
nothing about them, can not tell where a single one is 
located, and remembers nothing that has transpired. 

Oct. 13. 0. H. a young lady, sixteen years old, was 
put into a state of somnambulism. While under its in- 
fluence, she pointed out the most prominent manifesta- 
tions of mind. The influence is taken off; she remem- 
bers not a word of what has transpired and can not 
point a single manifestation or organ. 

Oct. 20. F. S. in the village of T h, is put into 

a perfect state of magnetic sleep or somnambulism. 
On simply touching my finger to combativeness. he be- 
came so excited that he darted among the audience and 
commenced to deal out his blows with such skill and 
precision that it would have baffled the most skillful pu- 
gilist, although I was constantly attempting, as soon as 
I could got my hand on benevolence, to counteract its 
influence, as well as "to excite veneration. When quiet- 
ed, I asked him to point out before the audience the va- 
rious organs, which he did correctly without the least 
faultering. The patient was an Irish boy, sixteen years 
old, could neither read or write, and knew nothing of 
the name or location of the organs than he did of Greek 
or Hebrew, but yet told correctly all I asked him. His 
combativeness, destructiveness and secretiveness were 
so large in proportion to consciousness, veneration and 
benevolence, I foretold certain propensities that largely 
predominated, and either to prove me a good phrenolo- 
gist, or revenge my telling the truth, I became the ob- 
ject of their undue enlargement by tho lose of property 



290 BAGG ON 

to the amount of twenty-five dollars, which I never again 
obtained. 

Nov. 1843. Called to C. D. a child twelve years old. 
Has an influenza. Recommend magnetizing. Com- 
mence and put her to sleep. The family are disbeliev- 
ers in magnetism. After 1 had got her into this state, 
I asked her father if she understood phrenology. " Why 
no," said he, "she knows nothing about it of course, nor 
I either, and what's more, I don't believe any thing in 
it." I then asked her where I should touch her to make 
her laugh. She at once, without hesitation, put her 
finger on 43. I then excited the organ by simply touch- 
ing it with my finger, and she laughed intolerably. I 
then asked her to point to all the most important organs 
in succession, which she did correctly, to the astonish- 
ment of her parents, who were convinced of the reality 
of both magnetism and phrenology. Her influenza was 
almost cured also, and by applying it twice more, with- 
out medicine, she became in better health than when 
attacked. 

I have, during the last two years, magnetized over 
two thousand persons, for disease and otherwise, and I 
here solemnly aver that not one subject that I have put 
into a perfect magnetic state or that of clairvoyance, 
which consists in rendering all the external senses dead 
or dormant, or palsied, or catalepsed, so that they could 
neither see, hear, touch, taste or smell, but what they 
all pointed out the manifestations of mind, or bumps, as 
they are vulgularly termed, and not only this, but many 
would tell their relative size, and the conduct that mnst 
necessarily flow from such and such manifestations. In 
a word, while in a magnetic state, they are the most 
perfect phrenologists, and when awake perfect novices, 
and worse than novices, for they know nothing of the 
science. 

I hold, from what I have seen, that no man in the in 
natural state can ever become a perfect phrenologist, 



MAGNETISM. 291 

but these can. I have a clairvoyant that will give, as 
I believe, a most perfect chart. Indeed, all that he has 
as yet given, are proved correct by not only the per- 
sons themselves, but by their acquaintances and friends. 
Their increased capacity of judgment and discrimina- 
tion are surprising and wonderful, and beyond compre- 
hension. These are facts demonstrated and daily de- 
monstrable, not only by myself, but by many others, all 
over the country, in every state in the Union, as well 
as in Europe. 

Now if a child eight or ten years old, who knows 
nothing of phrenology, perhaps has never heard the 
word or understands no more what it means than he 
does of the Chippewa or Pottawatomy language in a 
natural state, will when magnetized, not only point sin- 
gly to all the organs of mind, or its manifestations, but 
take into comparison their relative size, and judge of 
and determine what kind of conduct must necessarily 
flow from such relative proportions and developments, 
and judge correctly, superior to our best phrenologists, 
who have studied years in the science, what does it 
show? what prove? It proves at least two things. 
That phrenology is a true science, and that magnetism 
is the means or the logician by which it is established 
with mathematical precision and certainty. 

The above facts, then, prove the truth of both mag- 
netism and phrenology. Should we publish a tithe of 
all the facts that have come under our observation, it 
would swell this volume to an enormity. 

C. II. was put into a magnetic state, and on exciting 
veneration, No. 20, by simply putting the point of the 
fore finger upon the organ, he th rowed himself from his 
sitting posture in his chair, upon his knees on the floor, 
and commenced and made an interesting prayer, audi- 
bly and distinctly heard all over a large public hall. I 
then took off my finger so abruptly as to stop him in 
the middle of a word. I then excited tune in the same 
26 



292 BAGG ON 

manner, and he sung a hymn as loud as is usually sung 
in church. Mirth, No. 43, was now excited, and he 
broke out in peals of hearty convulsive laughter. I then 
again excited veneration, and he commenced the pray- 
er where he before left off. I then excited imitation, 
No. 12, and for twenty minutes he mimicked men, 
white and colored, and almost all other animals, grunt- 
ing like a hog, squealing like a pig, neighing like a horse, 
braying like an ass, whistling like a quail, quacking like 
a duck, cackling like a hen, and crowing like a cock. 
Amativeness, No. 2, was then excited; he straitened 
himself up, looked extremely tender and affectionate, 
said some soft things, and cried "what a beautiful an- 
gelic form!" kissed his hand w r ith the most extreme po- 
liteness toward his ideal beauty. Combativeness, No. 
7, w r as then excited, and he clenched his fist, darted for- 
ward, and cried u come on, you coward; I am ready for 
you. I'll knock you into the middle of next week." 
Imitation was again excited, and I willed him to imitate 
the dandy, which he did in the most perfect manner 
by straightening himself up, throwing out his legs and 
crossing them in a particular manner, spat sparingly 
through his teeth while the jaws were closed, and cried 
out " see him all strapped down, there; if you should 
Cut those straps, he would fly up and break his neck. 
See him picking his teeth with a silver pick, upon the 
steps of the National, to make people believe he boards 
there, when he eats at the groceries and sleeps at the 
market. See him prinking along the streets with that 
lady; O dear, how he feels all over. Look at his waist, 
it is'nt bigger than a bodkin." Secretiveness, No. 0, 
w r as then excited, and he felt around for something, 
when one of tho audience put a handkerchief near his 
hand, and he immediately, with great secret care, doub- 
led it up and put it into his bosom, saying to me " let's 
go, come let's go." Where, said I. "Home," said he. 
I then excited benevolence, No. 24, and he pulled the 



MAGNETISM. 293 

handkerchief out of his bosom and gave it to me, and 
took out his wallet, and while in the act of giving it to 
me, I excited acquisitiveness, No. 13, and he put it back, 
saying he would not let me have it. Self-esteem, No. 
16, was next excited, and he cocked back his head, and 
said he knew more than all of them; that he had the 
most farms, the handsomest wife, the prettiest children, 
the best horses, the most cattle and more money at in- 
terest than any one else, or all put together, told of his 
stores at different villages in the state, and made him- 
self out to be richer than Croesus. Firmness, No. 19, 
was next excited, and he settled himself, and said no 
man could move him, he was as firm as the rock of 
Gibraltar, no man must trifle with him. He could not 
be driven from his position. The next organ excited 
was philoprogenitiveness, No. 3, and he began to tend 
what he called "little sissy." He folded her in his 
arms, fondled her, dandled her upon his knee, sung 
to and kissed her, and shifted her from one knee to the 
other, and while in the act of kissing her again, I excited 
grief. No. 42, and he began to cry aloud, and shed tears. 
On being asked what was the matter, he said "liitle 
sissy was going to die; the doctor said she had got the 
scarlet fever." While in this situation, I again excited 
mirth, and in a twinkling he was roaring with laughter. 
Destructiveness, No. 10, was now excited, and he throw- 
ed her from him, exclaiming "take her away, take her 
away; I'll kill her." The finger was removed, and all 
was calm and quiet. I then excited order, No. 39, and 
he said he would have that harness hung up where he 
could find it in the night, and the curry-comb and brush 
too, and many other things which 1 have forgotten at 
this time. Color, No. 38, was now stimulated, and he 
exclaimed "red, green, blue, orange, violet, light green, 
pale blue, speckled red and white, black and blue," &c. 
I then put my finger on number, No. 40, and he com- 
menced at one and counted up to forty. Some one then 



294 BAGG ON 

called for ideality and marvelousness, Nos. 22 and 23, 
and he soared aloft almost beyond mortality, broke out 
with original poetry, and went into the most beautiful 
descriptions of scenery, of groves, bowers and land- 
scapes. I then again touched number, No. 40, and he 
began at forty, where he left off, and counted back to 
one. Tune and humor Nos. 27 and 28, were then ex- 
cited together, and he sung a comic song with great 
glee and merriment. I then touched instrumental music, 
No. 45, and he broke into whistling the same tune that 
he had been singing. I then rapidly changed my fingers 
from one to the other, alternately, and he would change 
as rapidly from singing to whistling the same tune, thus 
keeping continually the same tune, and commencing to 
w f histle where he left off singing, and vice versa. I then 
excited together locomotion and instrumental music, 
Nos. 1 and 45, and he sprang to his feet and commenc- 
ed daftcing, " cutting it down" and whistling his own 
tune, in the right old fashioned country dance style, 
and would have continued until he had dropped down 
or become exhausted by the most extreme exercise. 

Oct. 20. D. M. was put into the magnetic state. He 
became at once clairvoyant, and read common print at 
the top of the head. I then excited his organs and found 
them very easily affected, many of which, ideality and 
combativeness, I could excite at the distance of two or 
three inches. I asked him to describe his feelings and 
sensations. He said his whole head appeared to be fill- 
ed with light, and that every part of it glistened not un- 
like frost upon the grass at the rising of the sun. That 
when I moved my hands about his head, it seemed to be 
like bands of light, or flat streaks or stripes like broad 
ribbons, and that these appeared to be wound one over 
another, in different directions. He was then took, in 
clairvoyance, to a house well known, where he had 
never been before, and told correctlv even to two but- 
tons that lay upon the table in the dining room, After 



MAGNETISM. 295 

he had returned, without saying a word to him, I willed 
him to arise from his chair and make a speech upon an- 
imal magnetism. I put one finger upon concentration, 
one on self-esteem, and two on ideality. For five min- 
utes he remained silent, and I was about to despair, but 
at length, in the most natural manner, he slowly raised 
up his right arm, and commenced by saying that "Ani- 
mal magnetism was yet designed to revolutionize the 
world, although at this time it was derided and sneered 
at. Why/ 7 said he, "it is mortality and immortality 
shaking hands; yea, it is David shaking hands with Ga- 
briel." He went on in a strain of the most impassioned 
eloquence, for the space of twenty or thirty npinutes, 
that I ever heard come from the lips of any man. It 
would almost beggar description. 

Jan'y 20, 1843. O. P. was put into a perfect magnet- 
ic state at a public lecture. After travelling in clair- 
voyance to the city of New York, to the Astor House, 
(where he had never been) which he described more or 
less minutely, and all correctly; and with another gen- 
tleman to St. Clair, to his dwelling and office, both of 
which, outside and in, together w r ith furniture, descrip- 
tions of his lady and children; their dresses, even to the 
color and figure of that of the lady, and to the color, 
fashion and even buttons of his little boy's clothes, al- 
so correctly, (which the gentleman wrote me on his re- 
turn, and I have the letter now before me) even Jo -a 
broken brass ball in his office, laying on the, top of his 
stove. I touched and excited his organs with great suc- 
cess and the manifest applause of the audience. -4 gen- 
tleman then desired me, upon a slip of paper, to will 
him to make a speech against capital punishment. 1 put 
one finger upon language and another on concentratiye- 
ness, and willed him to commence. Hje went into a 
long argument to prove that "it was wrong, and wick- 
ed in the sight of God. That it was the prerogative of 
hi^h heaven to take life, and did not belong to man/' 
26* 



296 BAGG ON 

" Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord," quoted he in the 
sequel. 

After he had spoken awhile on this side of the ques- 
tion, another gentleman sent to me, upon another slip, 
to have him make one in favor of it. I then changed 
my fingers to self-esteem, No. 16, firmness, No. 19, and 
destructiveness, No. 10, (lightly and occasionally) and 
he went on eloquently as long as desired, in favor of it, 
and in direct opposition to his former one. He was so 
savage and fierce that he said he believed in the Lynch 
law. That when a man had taken away the life of 
another, he was in favor of hanging him up on the first 
tree, without judge, jury, or the benefit of clergy. This 
patient, in his natural state, was the very last one to 
expect a speech from on any subject. He was never 
known to make an attempt before. His natural talents 
were poor and his education nothing. He can scarcely 
put two ideas together, as a large share of the audience 
well knew from acquaintance with him. He was inca- 
pable of making a speech, much less an argument. 

These are a few of the many facts that have come 
under my observation within two or three years, in 
proof of the truth of phrenological science. It is the 
product of magnetism applied to man. The develope- 
ments and confirmations are touching, interesting, and 
calculated to completely revolutionize the world of 
science. Can there be any tning more interesting to 
man than the study of himself? Is there any thing more 
wanted or asked to establish the truth of phrenology] 
Is it not established, from what has been seen, upon a 
basis as enduring as the rock of Gibraltar? Who can 
stem the impetuous current of such a torrent of facts? 
Is it not clear that certain manifestations of brain indi- 
cate certain propensities of mind? When we can put 
children of twelve years of age into a state of somnam- 
bulism, to say nothing of adults, who have never heard 
or even thought of phrenology, and in that condition, 



MAGNETISM. 297 

witness them point out the manifestations of mind with 
a precision, judgment and correctness superior to an old 
and skillful practitioner in phrenology, of ten or fifteen 
years experience, can there be any thing more asked to 
establish the truth of either animal magnetism qj* phre- 
nology? If there is, to any portion of community, 
nothing less than divine inspiration would produce con- 
viction. Such we are not laboring to convince, but leave 
them to the murky repose of their habitual midnight 
darkness. 

It will be observed that we have re-located the organs 
of mirth and imitation, and claim to have discovered lo- 
comotion, taste, grief and satiety. Mirth and imitation, 
according to the location as laid down by phrenologists, 
have heretofore been a stumbling block to thousands, 
for practical phrenologists have been generally observed 
to fail in delineating correctly the character from their 
former locations. From their present locations none 
can fail. Imitation naturally belongs to the neighbor- 
hood of constructiveness and secretiveness. Mirth, on 
the contrary, belongs to the face, in the neighborhood 
of taste, grief, &c. Do mothers ever touch with their 
fingers the top of the head while chirping to their young, 
to excite them to laugh 1 On the contrary, do they not 
intuitively and invariably touch them near the dimple 
in the cheek? Can not many recollect, while at school, 
of rubbing one boy's ears to make him combat with 
another? Who is there, of adult age, who has not, 
after dreaming of fighting, awaked and found that he 
had lain upon his hand in such a manner as to excite the 
organ of combativeness? Who that has long lain with 
his hands upon the pit of his stomach, but has awaked 
with nausea and vomiting? And yet, after all, when 
we exalt the natural system from the minimum to the 
maximum degree of magnetism, and thus come to the 
aid of nature, in addition to these proofs of phrenology 
with those almost superhuman, such as insulating or ox- 



208 BAGG ON 

citing singly or in connection the organs, and thus ana- 
lyze the mind, by showing, as it were one by one, the 
various ingredients by which it is composed, these same 
" ornaments of mortality" cry out, "O, it's all a hum- 
bug; he's only learned, trained for the purpose; a stool 
pigeon. Why does he not take one from the audience. 
I'll give him a hundred dollars to put me to sleep." 
Thus, like "the dog in the manger," from ignorance or 
lazyness, they will neither learn and investigate them- 
selves, or let others, over whom they hold influence, re- 
ceive the benefits that would result from its attractive 
influence. They can not comprehend that it is a doc- 
trine of attraction and repulsion, and that if they make 
up their minds not to be affected, they repel it, which is 
agreeable to the general laws of nature. Who should 
be relieved from pain and sickness when they had rath- 
er bear it than suffer the disgrace of being cured in a 
certain manner? Who ought to have blessings show- 
ered upon him, when he was ridiculing, sneering at, and 
cursing the source from whence they comet He must 
be deep in logic, as well as have a great share of com- 
mon sense, who will offer to bet that he can not be put 
to sleep, or to think one so silly as to attempt it, under 
that state of circumstances, when the very nature of 
the case, will, from interest, produce repulsion, which 
will preclude his being affected. A person would be 
silly indeed to bet that another could not, with the pow- 
er of his muscles, stand up or walk, when to gain the 
wager he might do either, as he pleased? Wise bipeds 
these ! how sage ! how transcendency luminous in pre- 
cocity and profundity of intellect! 

Magnetism is characterized by benevolence, and who 
ever are the subjects of its benign influence, must be 
not only in a situation to need relief, but not too proud 
to receive it from any source. These same "consis- 
tent geniuses," are of that class whose organs of self- 
esteem and want of conscientiousness, are perfectly pre- 



MAGNETISM. 290 

dominant, and were firmness, combativeness and de- 
struciiveness on the same line or size, to give them 
courage, would now be found in the penitentiary. Were 
there not a change at death, they would probably make 
an attempt to storm heaven itself. They can not be 
made to believe much of any thing, but what little they 
have, induces them to believe that it is like fighting, 
wrestling, or lifting, governed by the law of force; that 
he w T ho could lift the most, or was the best wrestler, or 
could fight the hardest, could put the most subjects to 
sleep by overpowering them. Can a man be convinced 
against his will? 

"Convince a man against his will, 
Anil he's of Ihe same opinion still." 

Who ever saw a person convinced in direct opposi- 
tion to his will, on any subject] Do children learn at 
school when they are determined not to learn? What 
kind of progress should we expect from such pupils? 
Who was ever convinced in favor of any principle or 
subject, when they were constantly operated upon by 
prejudices against it? It is therefore a contradiction in 
terms, and whoever offers to stump or bet that another 
individual can not affect him with magnetism, but shows 
his ignorance or knavery. It is not a subject of strength 
or weakness, but one of belief, faith, will and concen- 
tration. It is not a subject of gain or lucre, for it is too 
benevolent in its nature, and w-as given one to help 
another. A boy twelve years old, in this city, put a 
lady of thirty-two to sleep. "He that is not for us, is 
against us." So with magnetism: he that does not de- 
sire to be magnetized, in a great measure repels it, and 
if his will is concentrated against it, can never be thrown 
into complete somnambulism, although all can have their 
vital organs or functions, which are not under control of 
the will, more or less affected, such as the pulse, heart, 
stomach, and other vegetative organs, as well as the 
muscles of locomotion catalepsecL One fact I h 



300 BAGG ON 

learned and confirmed by experience, that those that 
are sick can at all times be affected, whereas the same 
person in a state of health can not be. Whether this 
arises from the fact that it is easier to restore the lost 
equilibrium than to break it up, or from the greater de- 
sire when sick, from the hope of relief from pain, or 
both, is at present difficult to determine, but such is the 
foot. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THEORY OF MIND MANIFESTATIONS POLES REVER- 
SION OF POLES. 

Having brought forward our facts, we will now offer 
a few remarks with regard to the theory of the mind's 
formation as connected with matter. It will be recol- 
lected that we showed (chap, n.) that the system was 
composed of a concatinated circle of circles, each hav- 
ing a circumference and center, and that the brain and 
nerves formed the last of these, and that the brain form- 
ed not only the center of this nervous circle, and was 
the grand center of the whole system, but the center 
between the external and internal world. It is there- 
fore the central point of spirit and matter, and forms 
the link in the chain of spirits and animals between mor- 
tality and immortality. We have seen that it is both 
active and passive; active in volition, and passive in sen- 
sation — and thus characterizing man above other ani- 
mals — constituting him both mortal and immortal. The 
manner by which these changes are produced is by the 
magnetic fluids. The organ of mind, then, may be 
termed a great compound magnet composed of numer- 
ous cognate ones, controlled by the central one — the 
brain, which is endowed in some mysterious manner, 
above the comprehension of mortality, to set itself in 



MAGNETISM. 301 

operation, and thereby, in a great measure, is the arti- 
ficer of its own destiny, and constitutes man a free agent. 
This free agency is dependant upon the will, and dis- 
tinguishes him from matter by his being the engineer of 
his own motions and actions. Will, then, is the great 
regulator of the whole, and characterizes man, not onlv 
above other animals, but distinguishes one man above 
another. Mind is the result of magnetic motion or ac- 
*tion. Lis;ht and magnetism being identical one and the 
same thing or principle, are governed by the same law. 
Light is governed by the immutable law of radiating in 
every direction, from the center to the circumference, 
subjected by another equally unvarying one, that of be- 
ing bent to and from the perpendicular by media, pro- 
ducing reflection and refraction, and converged to a 
point from the circumference to the center, and from 
the center to circumference. In either reflection or re- 
fraction, the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of 
incidence, or in other words, light is reflected off in the 
same angle with which it entered or approached a body. 
As light radiates in every direction from the center to 
the circumference, it must form poles at every point of 
that circumference, up and down, laterally and around 
the whole area. Hence there must be points upon the 
surface in every direction, which are but the extremi- 
ties of those currents of light. These poles, then, aiv 
to be found, not only upon the superior parts oi' the 
skull, but upon its posterior part and sides, as well as 
upon the whole surface of the body, face and internal 
organs. 

The poles of the passions are in the farv, as we g 
by the expressions of the features indicating each, as- 
well as by the examination of the manifestations them- 
selves. Thus physiognomy, which has been acknowl- 
edged from time immemorial, by tin's view of the sub- 
ject, is seen to be but phrenology itself, and will there- 
fore add further proof of the truth of phrenolorrjea! 






302 BAGG ON 

science. These currents of light diverging from the 
brain in every direction from the laws of light, are di- 
rected in such a manner as to form two sides of innu- 
merable triangles, with their apices terminating in the 
center of the brain, and one of its sides toward the cir- 
cumference, and constitutes the centrifugal force, or 
that of volition. Light coming from the external world 
is converged also to a point, forming also two sides, w 7 ith 
their apices terminating in the ciniritious part of the 
brain, like the optic nerves. Thus light, in currents, 
traverses the brain in both directions, and unite so as to 
produce an equilibrium throughout the brain, as well as 
the whole system. Where these currents meet and 
mingle, or operate to neutralize each other, perhaps will 
ever remain involved in obscurity; but one thing is cer- 
tain, that time and excessive stimulation, as well as oth- 
er causes, such as disease, will reverse their poles so 
that combativeness will take the place of benevolence, 
love of hatred, grief of joy, destructiveness of philo- 
progenitiveness, &c. (chap, xi.) We have seen them 
in the science of geometry and when speaking upon 
crystalography, to be the cause of all figures or forms 
in magnitudes, as well as bounded by these lines, the 
extreme points of which are termed poles. The organs 
of mirth and grief are so connected that they form two 
sides of a triangle, with the apex in the center, and by 
that means of connection are liable to reversion. How r 
often are these reversed! How r often, both in health 
and disease, do they rapidly alternate with each other? 
If I tickle a person it will excite mirth, but if still con- 
tinued, it will soon produce grief. In hysteria, these 
alternate rapidly with each other. So also with other 
manifestations. Philoprogenitiveness and destructive- 
ness; destructiveness and benevolence; benevolence and 
acquisitiveness; secretiveness and ideality; amativeness 
and combativeness; self-esteem and veneration; weight 
and resistance; time and tune; form and size ; &c. In 



MAGNETISM. 303 

a word, this appears to be the manner of connection 
between the organs of mind, as well as with its commu- 
nications with the external world. We might go on 
and enumerate the whole, and show their connection to 
be a series of complicated triangles, the lines so crossing 
and intersecting with each other as to form a most per- 
fect connection. The optic nerves form two sides of a 
triangle, with apex toward the center, as well as all 
other external avenues of light. Thus life itself — which 
consists in motion and thought — is the result of light, 
both internal and external. From the digestion of the 
food and its assimulation, as well as by the absorption 
of oxygen at the lungs and pores, the internal current 
is put in motion, and from the light of the sun and oth- 
er objects, the external produces an affect, and by at- 
traction, meets in the medullary matter with its antago- 
nist, and thus produces mind by the motion of its minute 
globules or magnets. It will then be seen that all the 
manifestations of mind, whether upon the skull, face or 
elsewhere, are but poles formed by the points of these 
rays of light, which manifestations are but monuments 
or results of the action of the magnetic fluids, 

'■Thus the vital light 
Pervades the swarming seas and heaving earths, 
Where teeming Nature broods her myriad births-, 
Fills the fine lungs of all that breathe or bud-, 
Warms the new heart and dyes the gushing blood. 
With life's first spark inspires the organic frame, 
And as it wastes, renews the subtle flame. 
Leaves, lungs, and gills, the vital ether breathe, 
On earth's green surface, or the earth beneath. 
Thus life discordant elements crests, 
Rejects the noxious, and the pure digests; 
Combines with light the fluctuating maw, 
And gives awhile solidity to gas. 

For this the moon through Heaven's blue concave fluke, 
And into motion charms the expanding tides. 
While earth impetuous round her axle rolls, 
Exalts the wat'ry zone and sinfct the poles , 

27 



304 BAGG ON 

So turns the faithful needle to the pole, 

Tho' mountains rise between and oceans roll. 

With arm invisible, by steam afar, 

Drags the slow barge, or drives the rapid car. 

Soon will, on wide waving wings, expanded bear 

The flying chariot through the fields of air," 

And thoughts invent, attract, reflect, repel, 

With lightning speed, o'er mountain, hill and dell. 



APPENDIX. 



This shall certify, that about the middle of the month 
of November, A. D, 1844, C. F. B. in my employment, 
was found laboring under an attack of the delirium tre- 
mens — that on learning the state of his case, I immedi- 
ately employed physicians distinguished for their prac- 
tice in such cases — that they administered the usual 
remedies — that in about ten or twelve days, from the 
most violent forms of the disease, the patient exhibited 
evidences of approaching convalescence by sleeping for 
a few hours, followed by rational conversation — that for 
some three days he was every few hours vacillating 
from a state of derangement to reason, when a relapse 
took place, by which he became not only worse than he 
had been at any previous stage, but a raving maniac. 
All hope of his recovery was now abandoned, although 
every attention was paid him by physicians, nurses and 
friends. It became necessnry to prevent self-destruc- 
tion, and to keep him in a state of warmth, (he having 
torn his bed and bedding in pieces) to bind him with 
strong cords firmly to his bedstead. 

At" this stage, one of the gentlemen who was in the 
habit of visiting him during his sickness, suggested the 
propriety of calling in Dr. J. H. Bagg, and experiment- 
ing with the Mesmeric influence. Accordingly at the 






306 APPENDIX. 

time, the 9th of December, when the patient had not 
slept nor spoken rationally for some days, Dr. Bagg 
commenced his operations by conveying him from his 
bed into an adjoining room, in so weak a state that when 
his feet touched the floor he evidently possessed no more 
strength than an infant. At about ten o'clock, after a 
very few minutes exercise on the part of the Doctor, 
he was put to sleep, and in that state walked back to 
his bed room. Having remained in this sleep about an 
hour, he waked in nearly as deranged a state as ever. 
At 10 o'clock the Doctor again visited him, arid put him 
into a sleep which lasted three hours, and from which 
he waked somewhat rational. He was then again put 
to sleep, and rested quietly till morning, when I found 
him in every respect rational and sensible of his situa- 
tion, although very weak. 

On the morning of the 10th, Dr. Bagg again put him 
to sleep, to lay in that state, as he said, until noon, which 
he did, and at one o'clock he was much refreshed, and 
evidently gaining strength. The Doctor now, after ad- 
ministering as in the morning, refreshing teas, put him 
into a sleep in which he remained till night. At six 
o'clock the Doctor called, and after practising with what 
he termed " equalizing long passes," was leaving him 
without putting him to sleep, when I remonstrated, urg- 
ing him to do so, inasmuch as his nurses and attendants 
were worn out with fatigue. He, however, convinced 
me that it was better that he should remain awake until 
nine o'clock, when he said he would "will him to sleep 
from his own house" a distance of three-fourths of a 
'mile. This I ridiculed, and with some friends awaited 
the result with anxiety and interest. But at the precise 
hour named, much to our surprise, the patient, by the 
spasmodic twitching of the nerves throughout the whole 
system, showed us that the Doctor was working upon 
his promise, and in a minute he was in a sound sleep, 



APPENDIX. 307 

from which we found it impossible to awake him, either 
by noises or shaking his person. 

On the morning of the 11th, the patient came out of 
his sleep, perfectly sensible, and much stronger, but with 
an eye highly inflamed and suffused with red blood. 
The Doctor continued his u long passes," breathing upon 
the eye, and making passes over it. At six o'clock in 
the evening, the same treatment, when the Doctor left 
him to be put to sleep at nine o'clock. Meantime, I had 
stated to my friends the fact of Dr. Bagg's willing the 
patient to sleep from his house the night previous, and 
they expressing a doubt as to the possibility of one man 
possessing such control over another, and anxiety to see 
the experiment tried, I invited them to visit the patient 
between the hours of six and seven o'clock, when I sup- 
posed they would meet the Doctor, and enter into an 
understanding upon the subject, but he had made his 
visit, and met them on the street on his way home. 
The request being made that he should return, and af- 
ford them an opportunity to witness his experiments, 
he stated that he had parted with the patient for the 
night, and declined to do so; but some one of the party 
bantering him as to his ability to will him to sleep from 
a distance, he agreed, that instead of returning to the 
patient, he would proceed to his own house, and from 
thence will him to steep, at a quarter before the nine 
o'clock he had named. The party then proceeded to 
the lodgings of the patient, where they found him up, 
and conversing freely. At half past 8 o'clock, I advis- 
ed him to go to his bed, and at quarter before 9, the 
evidences of being put to sleep were obvious to us all, 
and he was soon so sound that no noise could awaken 
him. Agreeably to the promise of the Doctor, the right 
arm then raised gradually, bringing the hand nearly in 
contact with the head — also, the right leg, raising the 
foot. An ineffectual experiment was then made to awa- 
ken him, by thrusting a pin into the fleshy part cf hit 
97* 






30S APTESMX, 

shoulder. It made no impression whatever, bat some 
yet suggesting their doubts, a committee from the num- 
ber volunteered to visit the Doctor, and ask him if it 
was in his power to waken and put him to sleep again, 
within a stipulated time. The Doctor at first doubted 
his ability to bring him out of his sleep at that distance, 
never having tried the experiment, but said he would 
exert himself to do so. The time was then fixed, and 
after comparing time pieces, the gentlemen returned, 
stating the particulars of the arrangement. According- 
ly,, at half past ten oclock, the time named, the patient 
awoke, and conversed rationally for ten minutes, when 
he was suddenly put to sle.ep, and although great efforts 
were made by noises, pricking, pinching, &c. he slept 
soundly till morning. 

On the 12th and 13th, the Doctor administered the 
same treatment for the general complaint, and for the 
eye, as on the morning of the 11th; and on the 14th 
the patient was perfectly cured and walking the streets, 
and is now a strong healthy man. 

E. J. ROBERTS. 

The undersigned certify that they were witnesses of 
the most material facts contained in the above state- 
ment. I. S. Rowland, 
. Andrew Mack, M. L. Cardell, 
S. McKnight, R. Gillet. 

Dated Detroit, Feb. 20, 1845, 



Note. — From 'the haste with which the preceding 
pages have been committed to the press, many errors 
have undoubtedly crept in, but we trust they are mostly 
typographical, and not calculated to change the sense. 



CONTENTS. 



PART FIRST. 

Chap. I. — Magnetism in general. 
Chap. II. — Magnetism and Electricity compared. 
Chap. III. — Oxygen with Hydrogen gases. 
Chap. IV. — Hydrogen gas. 
Chap. V.— Two kinds of light. 
Chap. VI. — Light the Magnetic Fluid. 
Chap. VII. — Magnets from light. 

Chap, VIII. — Caloric or Magnetism in a state of repul- 
sion. 
Chap. IX. — The subject continued. 
Chap. X. — Magnetism. 

Chap. XL — Digression. Intricacy of the subject. Rea- 
soning from effects to causes. 
Chap. XII. — Mechanical force or power. 
Chap. XIII. — Chemical affinity. 
Chap. XIV. — The earth's formation. 
Chap. XV. — The science of numbers. 
Chap. XVI. — Geometrical science. 
Chap. XVII. — Elements of language. Grammar. 
Chap. XVIII.— Locric. 
Chap. XIX.— Vegetable life. 

PART 8ECONI). 

Chap. I. — Animal life. 

Chap. II. — Anatomy and physiology. 

Chixx). III. — The digestive circle. 



/ J«S?73 

312 CONTENTS. 

Chap. IV. — The muscular circle, membranes and glands. 

Chap. V. — The brain and nerves. 

Chap. VI. — Food, nutrition and assimulation. 

Chap. VII. — Connection of mind and body. Formation 

of mind. 
Chap. VIII. — The effect of mind upon mind. 
Chap. IX. — Minimum and maximum degrees of mag- 
netism, by conversation and eloquence. — 
Manifestations. Different degrees. Tem- 
peraments. 
Chap. X. — Magnetism as more particularly applied to 
man, or what is commonly called Animal 
Magnetism. Clairvoyance, Catalepsy, Palsy. 
Chap. XL — Disease a want of equilibrium of the mag- 
netic fluids. Homoeopathy. Allceopathy. 
Chap. XII, — Diseases. Allceopathic remedies, or the 
common practice of medicine, as taught in 
our colleges. 
Chap. XIII. — Cure of disease by magnetism. Exalta- 
tion of natural remedies. Effect of the 
will. 
Chap. XIV. — Cases cured by the will, direct and indi- 
rect. Others helped, and natural reme- 
dies associated with them. 
Chap. XV. — Phrenology proved by magnetism. Re- 
version of poles. 
Chap. XVI. — Theory of mind. Manifestations. Poles, 
Reversion of poles. 






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